The world of James Cameron's Avatar finally returned to the big screens with Avatar: The Way of Water, a sequel released more than a decade after the first one. The Avatar franchise has already become a big one with back-to-back billion-dollar movies, multiple comics, and even another Avatar game on the way which will tie in with the movies. Unlike the decade-long time difference between the first two movies, Avatar 3 won't take much time to be released and is scheduled to release in late 2025.
The Avatar 2 cast expanded even more compared to the first one and has built heavily upon the first one but at the same time many characters from the first movie were missing in Avatar: The Way of Water. Additionally, some of the returning cast members didn't get much screentime to flesh out their characters, and here's why the threequel should incorporate them.
Neteyam (Played By Jamie Flatters)
The Avatar 2 cast expanded upon the first with Jake starting his own family with Neytiri. Among their kids was Neteyam who was the eldest of all at the age of 15 and had huge potential for future Avatar movies. Being portrayed as the heir of Sully and the leader of the next generation, it seems that James Cameron was building up Jake Sully's successor in the future Avatar movies. However, this went all to waste when Neteyam was killed off in the movie which was shocking to many viewers.
However, despite his death, Neteyam could return back in Avatar 3 considering death is really not the end in the Avatar movies, and some previous characters have been brought back to life. Although, bringing back Neteyam may not be the right thing in this case. Neteyam's death plays a pivotal role in the plot of future Avatar movies as it allows Jake to once again fight back and bringing back the character would ruin the point of doing so.
Jamie Flatters has already been cast as Neteyam in the lineup for Avatar 3, indicating that the character will make a return in the third installment. However, it's uncertain whether Neteyam will be alive or if his appearance will be as part of a flashback sequence but that remains to be seen
Lyle Wainfleet (Played By Matt Gerald)
Lyle Wainfleet is the man behind the recently popular Avatar meme. Lyle is the right-hand man of Quaritch and has appeared throughout both Avatar movies. In Avatar 2 however, the RDA soldier was thrown off the boat by Sully. While many thought that he died, the chances of him dying such a plain death are highly unlikely considering he is one of the side antagonists in the films.
His role in the second movie was more significant than the first and may even expand upon in the next movies. Since the seed of redemption was already planted with Quaritch in Avatar: The Way of the Water, he may join the Na'avi side. With him switching teams, Lyle Wainfleet could become the main antagonist of the series.
Eywa
Eywa is one of the biggest entities in the Avatar universe. What the Na'avi people think is their goddess and is made of all the living things, could as well be a parasite latching Pandora. The Na'avi abide by the three laws that Eywa has that is "You shall not set stone upon stone. Neither shall you use the turning wheel. Nor use the metals of the ground." This law is everything that distinguishes the Humans and the Na'avi. Even though the rules prevent the Na'avi from progressing, it could actually be beneficial to the race considering, these are all the rules that Humans abided by and that led them to destroy and deplete Earth's resources.
Eywa had a strong connection with Kiri, one of Sully's kids, and this even helped her communicate with the other species on Pandora which assisted them multiple times. While Eywa is a mysterious entity, some may think her to be evil considering how she holds the Na'avi from progressing due to her laws and others think that she wants better for the Na'avi people. Anyhow, the goddess will return in future Avatar movies and may even play a bigger role than anticipated and Avatar 3 should flesh out the character more explaining its enigmatic nature.
Norm (Played By Joel David Moore)
While initially a member of the Pandora program and a character who hated Sully at first, Norm was an intermediate to Na'vi culture and way of living. Normal Spellman had a more significant role in the first movie when he even helped Sully in teaching him the ways of the Na'vi and joined their side in the war against the RDA. Norm was one of the scientists who was left behind on Pandora after the war in the first movie. However, in the sequel, Norm didn't play much of a big role and was just in a handful of sequences where he was shown helping Kiri. Norm is set to play a bigger and more fun role in Avatar 3 as the actor Joel David Moore already teased what's to come next for Norm with more family-oriented storylines.
While the Avatar universe is vast with many exciting characters, there's little time for the movie to include all the characters and shed light on them. With an additional 3 movies in development, the Avatar universe is set to expand even more with more Na'vi tribes but fans will sure love to see these returning faces.