The success of Avatar: The Way Of Water could be described as whale-sized, given its gargantuan multi-billion box office haul. It’s fitting, then, that one of the most beloved breakout characters of James Cameron’s sequel was Payakan, a gigantic space-whale (a ‘tulkun’, technically) with gigantic feelings to match, who formed a special bond with Jake Sully’s rambunctious middle-child Lo’ak. A rebel, a hero, a warrior; he even got his own subtitles (“It’s too painful,” he intones at one point, recalling the trauma that led to him being an outcast among tulkun society).
In the upcoming Avatar: Fire And Ash, Payakan is back in a big way – and ready to evolve along with the rest of Cameron’s mythos. “He’s turned out to be one of the most popular characters,” VFX supervisor and executive producer Richard Baneham tells Empire, in our latest Path To Pandora story. While Payakan always had a part in the third film, there’s an additional confidence to his presence in the threequel given how much audiences embraced him. “The reaction emboldened us to go forward and play Payakan at the very highest level,” teases Baneham. Get ready for Payakan 2.0.
His upgrade means new allies – yes, he’s still “forever bonded” with Lo’ak, but there’s fresh tulkun back-up too. Payakan now has a female tulkun friend, Ta’nok, “another outcast,” according to Baneham. “There’s a really great dynamic between them.” Plus there’ll be more insights into tulkun societal structures, with the introduction of clan leaders Matriarch and Patriarch. “Matriarch is a very interesting character,” says Baneham. “She’s in full regalia. We’re using rings and tattoos as a way to suggest [history] beyond what we’re seeing.” Get ready: Payakan – and friends – will make an even bigger splash this time around.