Avatar 2’s Clever Terminator 2 Easter Egg Explained By VFX Artist

A VFX artist reveals Avatar: The Way of Water’s hidden Easter egg from a previous sequel from director James Cameron, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Avatar: The Way of Water contains a subtle Terminator 2: Judgment Day Easter egg, as revealed by a key visual effects artist. The Avatar sequel, which comes more than a decade after the 2009 original, premiered on December 16 and is still running in theaters, having already become one of the Top 5 highest-grossing films of all time. It follows Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as they partner with Pandora’s water tribe to help protect their children — including rebellious Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), sagelike Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and human refugee Spider (Jack Champion) — from Earthling invaders.

On a recent episode of Corridor Crew‘s VFX Artists React series, their guest was Weta FX VFX Supervisor Eric Saindon, who worked on Avatar: The Way of Water.

During their conversation about the design of the characters, Saindon revealed that the hair hanging down in Lo’ak’s face was meant to emulate Edward Furlong as young John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, capturing that “rebel feel to him.” Read his full quote below:

You get things you wouldn’t expect, like Lo’ak, he’s got that one braid that’s always hanging [over his right eye]. Jim always said that’s the whole reason in Terminator 2 that Eddie always had that hair that hung down on his face, he wanted the same feel, the rebel feel to him.

Related: Can Any 2023 Movies Compete With Avatar: The Way Of Water’s Box Office?

Sequels Are James Cameron’s Specialty

From early on in his career, Cameron has put out sequels that outdo the originals, either in fan esteem or box office. That wasn’t clear at the very beginning, however, as he was fired from his first directorial project. The film in question was 1981’s Piranha II: The Spawning, a sequel to the 1978 Joe Dante creature feature Piranha, which Cameron has memorably disowned in the years since its release.

The director nursed his wounds briefly, coming out with the iconic sci-fi film The Terminator in 1984, which he immediately followed up with the 1986 movie Aliens, adding an action-thriller spin to Ridley Scott’s atmospheric 1979 Alien. He compounded his sequel success by helming 1991 follow-up Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which expanded on the original with high-octane action and even deeper sci-fi lore. Cameron would relegate his involvement in the latter franchise to producing and developing the story for Terminator: Dark Fate.

As Cameron is not a particularly prolific filmmaker, Avatar: The Way of Water is the first sequel among the four narrative feature films that he has created since 1991. However, it proves his mastery of the form, effortlessly bringing audiences back into the world of the Na’vi and pulling in huge box office dividends. In fact, the Avatar sequel is currently in competition with Cameron’s own Titanic to become the No. 3 highest-grossing film of all time.

More: 2023’s Huge Box Office Recovery Isn’t Just Because of Avatar 2Source: Corridor Crew