AVATAR Franchise Nearly Cast Another A-List Actor in the Lead Role of Jake Sully
The actors in the Avatar film franchise never could have imagined how big those movies would be, but those who passed on the first film for one reason or another have got to be kicking themselves.
Matt Damon has famously been very vocal about his blunder of turning down the lead role in Avatar, which ended up going to Sam Worthington, but now we know of another big name actor who was also up for the part.
In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Cameron explained that Worthington had some competition for the role of Jake Sully when the first film was being put together at Fox. Three actors were in the running and Cameron favored Worthington. Fox, on the other hand, liked then-up-and-comer Channing Tatum, who was coming off of the Step-Up movies, and was highly sought-after. Cameron said of the casting debate:
"There were three young actors that were really nowhere in their careers at the time. All three of them went on to be movie stars. I had to choose between them, and I did a series of screen tests.
“First, it was a straight audition. Then I set up real screen tests, on sets. There was a lab set, a jungle set. Zoë [Saldana] came in and tested with everybody, and Sam was the one I kept going back to. The studio disagreed. The Fox guys liked the other guys better.
“I'll say, one of them was Channing Tatum. It could've been Channing Tatum! (Sam) is the guy I would follow into battle, I would follow him into hell. He spoke in a way that resonated."
Tatum’s career would have taken off with that job, but it turned out that he did pretty well without it, and Worthington has been great as Jake Sully.
James Cameron’s long awaited threequel Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters on December 19, 2025.