{"id":188585,"date":"2025-12-17T17:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T17:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/188585\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T17:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T17:22:07","slug":"avatar-fire-and-ash-star-jack-champion-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/188585\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Star Jack Champion Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack Champion<\/a> got cast as Spider in Avatar: The Way of Water when he was just 12-years-old. \u201cI feel like I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am today if I hadn\u2019t played that character,\u201d he tells PAPER. <\/p>\n

Now, the 21-year-old actor is stepping into a moment that\u2019s been quietly building for nearly a decade: the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash, the latest chapter in James Cameron\u2019s sprawling sci-fi universe. It arrives after years of waiting, growing up and living alongside a character who has shaped his life as much as any real-world experience.<\/p>\n

Set on the lush alien moon of Pandora, Avatar is more than just the biggest film franchise on Earth; it\u2019s an immersive world built around themes of environmentalism, colonization, chosen family and spiritual connection to nature. At the center of it all are the Na\u2019vi, Pandora\u2019s Indigenous people, whose culture is defined by deep emotional and physical ties to the planet itself. For audiences who may not be fluent in Avatar lore, Spider serves as a natural entry point: a human boy raised among the Na\u2019vi, caught between worlds, cultures, and identities.<\/p>\n

Spider, whose full name is Miles Socorro, is the franchise\u2019s most literal bridge between humanity and Pandora. He\u2019s too human to fully belong among the Na\u2019vi, yet emotionally tethered to them through the Sully family, who raise him as one of their own. That longing for belonging is what defines Spider \u2014 and, in many ways, it mirrors Champion\u2019s own experience growing up on a set that became its own kind of home.<\/p>\n

Filming for Avatar began in 2017, when Champion was barely a teenager. By the time Fire and Ash arrives in theaters, he\u2019s an adult reflecting on years spent inside one of the most technically ambitious productions in cinema history. \u201cIt feels like it\u2019s a long time coming,\u201d he says. “2017 is when we started, so I feel like it\u2019s been years of anticipation\u2026 it\u2019s very overwhelming.\u201d What once felt monumental eventually became routine \u2014 a necessary normalization when the stakes are this high. \u201cAfter a while, once you\u2019re on year three of making this movie, it\u2019s so normalized that you almost forget the pressure of, \u2018Oh wow, this is a big blockbuster thing,\u2019 which is a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sense of normalization didn\u2019t erase the emotional weight of the role, though, especially as Fire and Ash pushes Spider into darker territory. Champion describes the most challenging part of the film as Spider\u2019s relationship with the Sully family, a bond defined by love, distance, and heartbreak. \u201cHe always wanted to be part of the Sully family,\u201d Champion says, noting how the feeling mirrored his own experience returning home after months away on set. \u201cI also wanted to be a normal kid and have normal experiences in life, but I couldn\u2019t have that while filming for months and months on end.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a quiet poetry in the fact that Champion\u2019s earliest memory of Avatar is watching the original film as a child, staying up past bedtime and feeling completely transported. \u201cI just remember being so captivated by it,\u201d he says. Years later, he isn\u2019t just part of that world \u2014 he\u2019s grown up inside it. <\/p>\n

We sat down with Champion to discuss the upcoming release of Fire and Ash, what parts of Na\u2019vi culture he would want IRL, and growing up within the highest-grossing film franchise on the planet. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ve lived with this character through some massive personal years. What headspace are you in right now with Fire and Ash coming out next month?<\/p>\n

Yeah, I mean, it feels like it\u2019s a long time coming. You know, 2017 is when we started, so I feel like it\u2019s been years of anticipation. And I mean, it\u2019s hard to put into words, but it\u2019s just kind of like this thing has finally happened. The anticipation, the hype, it\u2019s almost too much. I don\u2019t know how to describe it. It\u2019s very overwhelming.<\/p>\n

Because you were basically a kid when you were cast, right?<\/p>\n

Yeah, I was 12 years old, and I just turned 21, so it\u2019s been almost 10 years, I guess. It\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s absolutely nuts.<\/p>\n

I mean, you literally went through puberty while you were cast. How does it feel looking back, having grown up with the film? Do you feel like an Avatar character now \u2014 is it part of your identity? Or how do you separate the growth?<\/p>\n

Yeah. No, I did. I mean, I feel like the character Spider is kind of like a Tarzan-esque character, you know, like a Mowgli. So I feel that wildness \u2014 that wild feeling of the inner person, whether it be the aggression aspect or the willingness-to-do-anything aspect \u2014 is something that everyone around me on set helped me live in. And to this day, I feel like I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am today if I hadn\u2019t played that character. There are aspects of Spider in my brain that will never go away.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s literally the biggest film franchise on Earth. So when you\u2019re on those sets, does it feel massive, or do you find yourself tuning it out to actually do the job?<\/p>\n

I feel like it\u2019s honestly so normalized almost immediately. At first there was definitely that aspect of, Holy crap, this is one of the biggest movies ever, and this is one of the sequels, so it\u2019s one of the biggest movies ever, blah, blah, blah. But very soon, you get into a rhythm of, \u201cOK, every day I\u2019m working with this amazing cast and crew,\u201d and they slowly but surely feel like friends, and then friends to family. After a while, once you\u2019re on year three of making this movie, it\u2019s like, OK, it\u2019s so normalized that you almost forget the pressure of, \u201cOh wow, this is a big blockbuster thing,\u201d which is a good thing, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

Is there anything about you at 12 versus you now that directly changed how Spider behaves or moves or reacts?<\/p>\n

I feel like, when I was cast at 12 years old, the character Spider was always written as like 15 years old-ish. So when I was first cast, I felt like I was playing older than I was, and I hadn\u2019t even hit puberty yet, so I was pretending to be this, I guess, hormonal teenager. And then the hormones actually came in, and I became a hormonal teenager, so it was a lot easier to play. And now, if I ever go back for FPR or something, if there are little pickups here and there, I really have to play young. So it\u2019s funny how it works. I don\u2019t know if that answers your question, but yeah. It\u2019s always felt like I\u2019ve been playing older, younger\u2026 yeah.<\/p>\n

Without spoiling anything, what part of Spider\u2019s journey in this film felt the most emotionally challenging for you as an actor?<\/p>\n

I guess it\u2019s just his heartbreaking relationship with the Sully family. That was the hardest to wrap my head around a little bit, because I feel like he always wanted to be part of the Sully family. And to me, as a human being, I feel like I could relate, because I spent so many years filming this movie, and then whenever I\u2019d come back home \u2014 of course I had friends and family \u2014 but there was always some amount of disconnect, because I\u2019d been gone for years or months at a time. I also wanted to be a normal kid and have normal experiences in life, but I couldn\u2019t have that while filming for months and months on end. So I think that was something I could relate to, but it also made it really emotional and really personal when I was performing those emotional scenes.<\/p>\n

Do you remember watching the first Avatar as a kid?<\/p>\n

Yeah. I was four years old when it came out in theaters. I never saw it then. My earliest memory was at my mom\u2019s house. It was nighttime, and I got to stay up extra late because we were watching a movie. And I just remember being so wowed by it, because as a kid, however old I must\u2019ve been \u2014 like seven years old or something \u2014 I was watching Disney Channel movies or whatever. And then you go from that to\u2026 wow. This is like a \u201cWTF\u201d kind of moment. I just remember being so captivated by it. I also remember literally thinking, \u201cGod, they have to make a sequel to this,\u201d which is just funny to think about now.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s something about Spider that you personally relate to, or something about him you wish you had in your own life?<\/p>\n

I feel like something I relate to him on is his\u2026 well, I feel like he\u2019s very much a ride-or-die for his friends. He\u2019s a very loyal guy to his friends and his family, and I feel like that\u2019s something that\u2019s ingrained in me as a person as well. But something I wish I had was\u2026I mean, he\u2019s an action-movie character. I wish I had his bravery. I\u2019d be lying if I said I was as brave as Spider. I mean, all these characters just go head-on into battle and are so good at climbing through chaos. And I wish I had his parkour skills, as well as his Mowgli, jungle-swinging skills.<\/p>\n

If you could steal one piece of Na\u2019vi culture and bring it into your real daily life, what would it be?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if this counts as a culture thing, but I wish that kuru were real. I would love to actually, like \u2014 you know, us as humans, we can spiritually connect to nature, but I wish there was a physical plug where we could just plug into nature and visit our ancestors. I feel like we could communicate, at least emotionally, with our dogs. Literally just sync our minds for a second. I don\u2019t know. It\u2019d be so cool.<\/p>\n

For the fans who have followed Spider closely throughout the years, what\u2019s one thing you want them to pay attention to in this film? Or what do you hope people feel walking out of Fire and Ash in general?<\/p>\n

I hope they feel very full. Creatively, imaginatively. I hope they feel like if there was a thirst for experiencing the world, that feeling is quenched. And as far as what to look out for with Spider, I feel like just his emotional journey. I feel like “<\/p>\n

Images courtesy of Jack Champion<\/p>\n