All of us would love to have a rebel heart like Neytiri has...

Avatar: Fire And Ash star Zoe Saldana is joined by acclaimed director James Cameron and co-stars Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Oona Chaplin to discuss the return of the wildly successful franchise. By YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI

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REAL DEAL: Kiri, Varang and Jake

ZOE SALDANA understands how playing the same character for an extended length of time can affect and change an actor.

It's why the Oscar-winning actress has a deep and personal love for Neytiri, the Na’vi warrior she has played since the inception of the Avatar franchise in 2009, set in the lush, alien world of Pandora.

“I think all of us would love to have a rebel heart like she has, and she is a young woman who, unfortunately, has had her whole life set out for her,” says the 47-year-old star of movies like Guardians Of The Galaxy, Star Trek and Emilia Perez.

“Neytiri is just the kind of person I want to be in terms of sticking by what you believe in, fighting for what you believe in, and trying to be yourself.

“She was the daughter of a Tsahik and an Olo’eyktan, so, basically, she was of royal blood, and with that came a big weight on her shoulders: to deliver something that she wasn’t ready for.

“And part of her having a rebel heart means that she found love in the most unconventional of places - in this human [Spider] that came in the form of an avatar.”

In the third instalment, Avatar: Fire And Ash, Neytiri and her family are still living among the Metkayina Clan in Pandora, mourning the loss of her son Neteyam, who died in a climactic battle with the Resources Development Administration (RDA), also known as the ‘Sky People,’ at the end of the second film Avatar: The Way Of Water.