Michelle Rodriguez Turned Down Avatar Sequels Because She's Done Coming Back From The Dead
Now, we don't know what the residual details are like for any of the actors in James Cameron's "Avatar" films, but considering both movies are currently in the top 5 highest-grossing films in history, everyone on screen is likely getting a pretty nice payday for their participation. Getting to appear in any of the "Avatar" films would be a dream come true for plenty of folks, but Michelle Rodriguez — who played combat pilot Trudy Chacón in the first film — has no interest in returning to the beautiful world of Pandora. In case you've forgotten, Chacón was a sympathetic figure to the Na'vi in "Avatar," and ends up sacrificing herself during an extremely emotional moment in the final battle to help save the extraterrestrial humanoids of the moon jungle.
In most movies, death marks the end of a character's journey, but James Cameron doesn't limit his storytelling with silly constraints like mortality. As we've already seen with Stephen Lang's character Colonel Miles Quaritch, reincarnation is possible in the world of "Avatar." While the mortal body can be destroyed, memories and brain functions can be transferred to a new body, so theoretically, anyone in the "Avatar" world can make a return. However, during an interview with Vanity Fair ahead of the release of Rodriguez's new movie, "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," she stood firm that Trudy Chacón won't be one of them ... despite pleas from Cameron himself.
The fourth time is not the charm
As Michelle Rodriguez explained during the interview, the last time she crossed paths with James Cameron, he pitched her the idea of her character making a return in the future "Avatar" sequels — considering some of the folks who died in the first film came back for "The Way of the Water." Rodriguez was not on board, and reportedly told him, "You can't do that — I died as a martyr." It's honestly refreshing to hear that she cares enough about the integrity of Trudy Chacón's story to make sure her death continues to mean something, but Rodriguez's disinterest in coming back from the dead is also rooted in the fact she's done it three other times in her career:
"I came back in 'Resident Evil,' I wasn't supposed to. I came back in 'Machete,' I wasn't supposed to. I came back with Letty [in the 'Fast & Furious' movies], I wasn't supposed to. We can't do a fourth [time], that would be overkill!"
The frequency in which Rodriguez plays characters who die only to pop up in later films just because is pretty wild once it's spelled out. "I don't understand, it's so weird," Rodriguez told the publication. "I guess they don't know what to do with the girl who doesn't have a boyfriend." Look, she has a point. Rodriguez doesn't personally subscribe to any labels, but she has publicly confirmed that she isn't straight, and often plays canonically queer or single, queer-coded characters in action films. If you ask me, it's a testament to her talent as a performer because she consistently plays characters the audiences love and are devastated to lose.