Channing Tatum Nearly Played This Fan-Favorite in James Cameron’s Avatar
Before Sam Worthington became Jake Sully, James Cameron says Channing Tatum nearly took flight in Avatar, revealing the actor’s audition put him on the brink of landing the role.
Here’s a fun what-if for your brain: James Cameron says Channing Tatum almost ended up as Jake Sully in Avatar. Yep, that was apparently on the table before Sam Worthington locked it down.
How close did Channing Tatum get?
Cameron walked through his filmography for Vanity Fair and dropped this nugget while revisiting Avatar’s casting saga. Back when the movie was at Fox, the studio had their own favorites for Sully — and Tatum was one of them. Cameron, meanwhile, kept circling back to Worthington.
"And Sam was the one I kept going back to. And the studio disagreed. The Fox guys liked the other guys better. You know, I’ll say one of ’em was Channing Tatum... it could have been Channing Tatum."
That’s one of those behind-the-scenes wrinkles that makes you reevaluate the whole thing for a second. For the record, Tatum has since shown up as Gambit in the Marvel sandbox, so the multiverse still found a way.
Why Sam Worthington got the role
Cameron says Worthington’s energy and the way he delivered lines made him want to follow Sully into battle — and, as he put it, "into hell." It wasn’t all plug-and-play, though. They spent time working through Worthington’s Australian accent to get the performance where Cameron wanted it. Clearly, it worked.
What’s next: Avatar: Fire and Ash
Cameron is back in the director’s chair for the next one, Avatar: Fire and Ash, and he co-wrote the script with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. He’s already teased the angle: we’re meeting a new culture, the Ash People, who represent fire. The idea is to look at the Na'vi from a different perspective — not just the haloed version we’ve mostly seen so far.
- Returning cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Edie Falco, and more
Avatar: Fire and Ash is set to hit theaters on December 19, 2025.