It looks like James Cameron is doubling down on much of what his original film was as Avatar: The Way of Water's PG-13 rating includes one major difference from the first movie. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña return to lead the cast of James Cameron's sequel as Jake and Neytiri find their home once again under attack by the RDA, led by Stephen Lang's revived Colonel Quaritch. Avatar: The Way of Water will see the Sully family journey to the water tribe of the Metkayina in the hopes of gathering a force to combat the greedy humans and save Pandora once again.

With less than a month remaining until its premiere, Avatar: The Way of Water has officially received a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association. The description for this rating, per Filmratings.com, cites "sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language". Interestingly, the inclusion of "partial nudity" is a major departure from Cameron's original movie, which instead saw "sensuality" included in its PG-13 rating description.

Avatar 2's Partial Nudity Rating Explained


Those familiar with Cameron's original film may not find it too surprising that Avatar: The Way of Water's PG-13 rating addresses the sequel's partial nudity, considering the Na'Vi don't wear much to cover what would be considered private areas on humans. The trailers thus far for the sequel have indicated a continuation of this trend, with Saldaña's Neytiri even being seen with next-to-nothing above her waist, even while pregnant and hunting through the forests of Pandora. With much of the new film also taking place underwater, it seems likely Cameron elected to continue this trend with the water-bordering Metkayina similarly donning minimal garments to cover themselves up.

One bigger difference, however, in regard to Avatar: The Way of Water's PG-13 rating is the lack of the "sensuality" note, something that may actually come as surprising considering nudity is so often associated with such. Though marketing for Cameron's sequel have shown plenty of touching moments between Jake and Neytiri, the lack of a direct "sensuality" warning for parents could indicate the film won't include another toned-down sex scene between the two, as included in the original. Additionally, with multiple Na'Vi characters appearing to be pregnant throughout Avatar: The Way of Water's story, the "partial nudity" note could more be directed towards birth scenes with naked newborns rather than something more risqué.

Regardless of the explanation behind the "partial nudity" inclusion in Avatar: The Way of Water's PG-13 rating is unlikely to deter too many audiences from heading to the theater to catch the next chapter in Cameron's epic franchise. However, with Cameron indicating the Avatar sequel will need to be one of the highest-grossing movies of all-time just to break even, he will have to hope no viewer reads too much into this rating description. Only time will tell when Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16.