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'Avatar: Way of Water' Trailer Draws You Into Its Gorgeous Underwater World

The trailer for James Cameron's highly anticipated sequel takes moviegoers back to Pandora and the world of the Na'vi.

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CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
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Gael Cooper
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Jake Scully teaches his son to wield a bow and arrow in a green jungle in Avatar: The Water of Water

The trailer sees Jake Scully teaching one of his children to hunt.

20th Century Studios

A new trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water dropped Wednesday, taking fans back to the world of the blue-skinned Na'vi for the first time since 2009. The full Avatar 2 trailer follows a teaser trailer that came out in May and drew 25 million views in five months.

The movie hits theaters Dec. 16.

Wednesday's trailer gives us a fresh look at the visually spectacular world that director James Cameron crafted for his sequel, along with hints of the trials Jake Sully, Neytiri and their family face.

Cameron shot many sequences underwater, using new cameras developed for that purpose.

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, CCH Pounder and Giovanni Ribisi are among those reprising their roles from the  original film, with Sigourney Weaver back in a different part. Worthington plays Jake Sully, who left his human body to wed Saldaña's Neytiri and join her in life on Pandora. 

Weaver played a human, Dr. Grace Augustine, in the first film, but returns as Jake and Neytiri's daughter Kiri. Kate Winslet joins the cast as a free diver named Ronal. Winslet learned free diving for the film and reportedly held her breath for a whopping seven minutes.

The film has been rumored to top three hours, though the final length is still not public. Cameron told Empire in May: "I don't want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours. ... It's OK to get up and go pee."

Get used to seeing the lush world of Pandora again because three sequels to this film are planned, coming in 2024, 2026 and 2028.

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