Interview: 'We Wanted to Tell a Different Kind of Story': Why Now Was the Time to Tie Avatar Movies into the Game

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is hoping to make a big splash with its upcoming tie-in DLC, From the Ashes, a full-blown expansion that we recently got to try out.

Between flying the skies on our Ikran and taking out the new Na’Vi Ash Clan enemies, we sat down to speak with From The Ashes’ narrative director, Aoife O’Friel, to talk about the process of cooking up a story in such a lore-stacked world, and how it all ties into the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash movie.

Push Square: What’s the process of moulding a narrative within such an established franchise? Is there a back-and-forth with Lightstorm Entertainment?

Aoife O’Friel: Yeah, absolutely, it's a collaboration with Lightstorm, especially for From the Ashes, because we wanted this movie tie-in with Avatar: Fire and Ash.

So from the very beginning, when we thought about doing an expansion, they were pretty excited about So’Lek. He kind of stood out as a fan favourite from the main game. And also, for us, for the team, at Lightstorm and at Massive, we really liked him.

And then the opportunity to use the Ash, the Mangkwang, in the game was amazing. That was something that we didn’t dare to dream, but Lightstorm thought, “Yeah, this is great!”

You can have this tie-in, where people can experience the Ash in the movie and get introduced to them, and then you get to go home, and you get to fight them. So yeah, it was a very strong collaboration from the start, working out the elements we wanted to include in the story.

Brand synergy was the big thing that stood out to us with this expansion. How does tying into this wider story then influence how you tell your story?

We wanted to fit with the darker themes of where the franchise is heading. Fire and Ash is going to places that we haven’t seen before, especially with fighting against Na’Vi. Fighting against your own kind.

We’ve always thought of Na’Vi as being very peaceful and in tune with nature. And then to meet these Na’Vi that are so brutal, and who defy Eywa and Eywa’s will, and use metal and human weapons, and are so cruel. It was shocking for us. It was fun to be able to tie into that darkness.

And then So’Lek, as well, as the protagonist, has a lot of darkness. We see that in the main game, when he is going around hunting down RDA involved in the battle, taking their dog tags, and wearing a string of them. He’s already very much a character embedded in his own trauma.

So following that thread with him, and that kind of darkness that drives him, and comparing and contrasting with the darkness to drives the Ash Clan, that was really interesting for us and a nice way to tie in with the themes.

To follow on, where do you start with a story in a pre-existing world like this? Is it the narrative idea first, that then gets influenced by the lore? Or does it always start with Pandora?

That’s interesting. I think they probably influence each other, like it's very embedded in it. Like when we wanted to explore having the Mangkwang in the game, that meant learning about their culture.

What makes sense for them? Especially when we were building out the characters. Like we have Wukula and Zari, brother and sister. We gave them this rivalry, and then it meant going to Lightstorm and being like, “Does this make sense? Is this something Ash would care about?”

And then we have Rak as well, consistently killing her Ikran in battle and then bonding again. That was a huge part of the lore in the main game and in the movies. You see, the bond between Na’Vi and Ikran is so important and so sacred. And then completely turning that on its head with Rak, who doesn’t care about that, and how it is eating away at her, because she refuses to acknowledge the loss.

So they really influence each other, and how Na’Vi culture, Pandora, and the lore can influence the story. And what we can do in the story that fits with the lore.

Why was it the time to switch to So’Lek? Up until this point, it’s been the player’s Sarentu character.

I think, really, it was the opportunity of Avatar: Fire and Ash. We wanted to tell a different kind of story, one that fit with the movie.

If you played the main game, you know that the Sarentu character also suffered a lot of trauma. They were captured as a child, kidnapped, and kept away from their home. And then when you do finally escape, the character has kind of a curiosity about Pandora, and even some naivety, because they don't really know their own story.

They don't know what happened to their people. You find out as the game progresses that your clan were massacred. Whereas So’Lek knows his own story. He's grown up as a Na’Vi. He knows what he's lost, and he knows what the stakes are.

So this was really a great setting for us when it came to tying into themes of the movie, that this is someone who stands to lose so much, and whose history and backstory we haven’t really delved into.

Let’s say, you’re a new player to Frontiers of Pandora, can you jump right into From the Ashes? Should you complete the base game first?

No, you can jump straight into From the Ashes. We are going to provide a little “Previously On” video at the beginning. So if you haven’t played the main game, and you’re not sure what’s going on, you can watch that, and it sets the stage for you and the major players. And then you can jump straight into From The Ashes.

Is this expansion taking place concurrently with the new movie?

It’s roughly around the same time, but in From the Ashes, the RDA and Ash clan alliance has already been formed. So we see that happen in the movie, and then we see the consequences of that in the game.

You mentioned before that the Kinglor Forest, which has been devastated by the Ash Clan, would evolve over the course of the campaign. Can you elaborate on that?

You will get to see the beautiful Kinglor Forest pristine before the Ash come, of course. But also, as the Ash progress in their occupation of the land and they're enabled by the RDA, you will have more pockets of fire and ash, pun not intended, springing up around the world.

The story drives some of that as well, and so do the Mangkwang, in the world, and the RDA. You know, setting up their facilities, extracting from the land, as they have before, and so you get to see that evolve.

And then, you have an impact on RDA operations as well. You will get to see maybe like part of Pandora try to reclaim itself, and try to fight back in a way. So yeah, you will see that progression as you keep going.

Do you think the new third-person perspective changes how you are experiencing the story?

Definitely, especially with So’Lek because he is a pre-established character, and so you can, of course, choose to play his story in first person. But I think it's very interesting to see how different he is compared with the Sarentu character, if you choose third-person, because he's a very visceral fighter.

He's got these brutal finishing moves. It’s clear how experienced he is, and you really get a feel like a badass, as you're playing third-person because you see the way he moves.

And also it made a big difference for us with the cinematics, because, of course, with third-person we can do a lot of quick cuts and camera shifts in perspective, and so we were able to make more action-packed scenes, because of that. And be more cinematic, in general.

Why is now the time for this stronger sense of synergy with other elements of the Avatar IP?

I think it’s about the evolution of the franchise. When we were working on the main game, Avatar: The Way of Water had not come out yet. So people’s only exposure to Avatar was the first film.

And then we were taking place on the complete other side of the moon, on a different continent. So it was important to build out Pandora in a different way. In the Western Frontier, we have the Kinglor Forest region, which is probably the most familiar to players. But the Upper Plains were completely new and unseen before. And the Clouded Forest, also completely new.

And so we wanted to establish more of Pandora. That there was more to Pandora that you’d never seen before. And the player character and their story, and being kept from that, then learning and exploring that. It all fit really well for it to be its own thing.

And then with From the Ashes, with the movie coming up, and us having the ability to use the Ash Clan in From the Ashes, that made more sense because they want to spread their fire across Pandora.

Then, with So’Lek’s history to draw from, and we gave him a connection to the Ash Clan, it all just started making more and more sense.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - From the Ashes drops on PS5 on December 19th. Will you be checking out this story DLC? Let us know in the comments below!