You better believe that Payakan the whale is returning for Avatar 3

Currently the sixth highest-grossing film of all time, Avatar: The Way Of Water can thank its star for the feat: Payakan. The beloved whale who speaks exclusively in papyrus stole the hearts of moviegoers this holiday season, with people lining up to get another look at Payakan ripping a huge asshole’s arm off.

Thankfully for fans of bodily dismemberment, Payakan is coming back for seconds. Per Empire, the whale will be returning for Avatar 3. “We view Payakan as a character, not just as a creature,” producer Jon Landau said. “We will continue to explore his relationship with Lo’ak.” All this shouldn’t be too surprising, though. Previously, James Cameron announced a different narrator for each film, and Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) is first at the mic. Does anyone want a Lo’ak movie without Payakan? No. The answer is no.

But before Payakan and Lo’ak can collect their golden popcorn for Best On-screen Team, Landau has some bad news: The aforementioned asshole is also returning. Scoresby (Brendan Cowell), the whaler mining Tuluk brains for the anti-aging cream from Jupiter Ascending, will continue his goo mining operation. We imagine Scoresby will have a bionic arm or some Na’vi avatar arm (avatarm?) that will have Jake Sully reconsidering his choice to go full Na’vi in the first movie.

Speaking of bad guys, Landau also made it clear that we’d be seeing much more of Edie Falco’s General Ardmore. Falco, who believed Way Of Water came out and flopped years ago, will again be leading a team of evil, Oakley-obsessed marines on a tour of Pandorian destruction. “Way Of Water was Quaritch’s vendetta, but Ardmore’s, or the RDA’s, goals have not changed,” Landau said.

So things aren’t looking great for Pandora as a whole, but at least we’ll be able to spend time with our new best friend.