“Avatar unlocks something in all of our hearts” — Oona Chaplin takes the world by storm with poise and purpose.
The Fire Within Oona Chaplin
LONDON, December 13, 2025
Her Hyde Park suite brims with joy and life — not because the sun is shining on this winter morning, but thanks to her two-year-old daughter hanging around with us. “My daughter keeps me really grounded — just the act of being present with her, it helps me orient,” Chaplin says, before rekindling travel memories from her own childhood with her actress mom. “I remember going to an orphanage [in Sri Lanka], because my mother was filming Mother Teresa there. I must have been like 10, so I got to see kids that were my age, that had such a different life to the one that I had, and that really had a big impact on me.”
Chaplin found success at her own pace, but her parents have always been “very supportive” of all of her choices. “Even the really weird ones,” she adds with a laugh. “Even though they were also very strict in certain ways, they were always very like, ‘Okay, this is what you want to do? What can we do to help?’ My dad always wants to give me guidance, and my mom was giving me guidance by her example.” As we take the elevator, Chaplin lets her daughter press the button, speaking to her in both her native Spanish and English. Chaplin, who is also fluent in French, loves languages and credits her cross-cultural upbringing for her openness to the world and humility. “I think it’s made me a lot more compassionate as a person. I have a really big appreciation for [the fact] that life is very different for people, but that we’re also all the same. And especially films like Avatar, they turn us all into blue people — you watch Avatar, you’re a Na’vi.”
During our meeting, I witness some heartwarming mother-daughter moments and offer to capture them on Polaroid for their personal family memories. Then, Chaplin suggests getting a shot of her daughter seen from behind in her arms — because being a mom may be her greatest role. “There are some things that are good, and some things that I want to do differently,” she says, thoughtful about the environment she wants to raise her child in. “For me, when I went to see my mom, it was a holiday. Which was fun, but then I had to leave and go back home. But we want to homeschool [our daughter], at least for the first few years, so [there is always] the feeling of being able to continue life, no matter where we are.”
Chaplin’s love for storytelling stems from her fascination with fairy tales. “For me, it was Little Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty in particular — [Little Red Riding Hood] because I was born in the city, so the woods or the forest were something all mystical, romantic, and exotic. And I was fantasizing about being lost in nature.” There is indeed something enchanting about Chaplin — between her dark Rapunzel-like hair and spellbinding presence, it feels obvious to ask whether she has ever considered auditioning for a live-action version of Tangled. “I’m sure I would, if there was a part. I feel like I’d make a pretty good witch at this point,” she laughs.
In Avatar: Fire and Ash, the latest installment in James Cameron’s record-breaking franchise, she exudes bewitching menace and a magnetic energy as the new fiery villain — which also makes her one of the Game of Thrones alumni to become a leading figure in a blockbuster. “I went to some dark places,” she says, describing how she got into Varang, the ruthless Na’vi leader of the volcano-dwelling Mangkwan clan (Ash People). “I’m also very different than Varang. It’s not just that we’ve had different lives, it’s that we have a different relationship to fear and power. Especially at the time, I didn’t have the kind of self-belief that she has to be a leader, so she helped me grow those pieces of me. I learned a lot about what it takes to have conviction, to have that leadership skill, to have integrity with your words, and have your words have power.”
When I sit down with Chaplin, we are six days from the theatrical release, as her husband reminds her. “I hope that people can be inspired by [Varang’s] leadership, but also be like, ‘It’s good, I can see where she’s gone wrong.’” Chaplin sees Varang as “a cautionary tale,” but as evil as she is perceived, she stands out as a terrifyingly mesmerizing character shaped by trauma, pain, and resilience. “That was the part of Varang that I really wanted to honor, and that was hard [to keep that very present all of the time] because it’s dark,” she says. “The way that I see it, when something bad happens, when we have pain, it’s good to look at it and to understand where that pain comes from — [in Varang’s case] it’s good to go to the volcano and learn from the fire. But then, I feel like the real courage is in feeling the pain, mourning, grieving, and not letting the anger that comes from the pain take over. And my husband has taught me that a lot — [looking at] what’s underneath the anger.”
Chaplin’s role required one and a half years of intense filming in performance capture, a process that she found playful and liberating. “It reacquainted me with the power of my imagination, and now I feel like I can play better with my daughter because of it,” she says. “[James Cameron] was always very welcoming of good ideas and bad ideas, so I brought a lot whenever I had ideas, listened to him, and watched him — and I took great inspiration from Zoe [Saldaña] as well.” She quips that she was relieved to have made the final cut, “because you never know,” but she undeniably steals every scene she is in. When she talks about her experience on set, she is very animated and you can see the spark in her eyes — something that fueled her commitment to the craft. “There was one point where I get the flamethrower, we did the scenes a couple of times, and obviously, there’s no fire coming up. And then, Jim came up to me and he was like, ‘You know, we can add the sound effects later.’” She recounts, amused, “Because I was [mimicking flame whooshes] — I was just playing and had forgotten everything.”
Since stepping into motherhood, Chaplin admits that it now takes a lot more to get her out of the house. “It has to be worth leaving my daughter.” She laughs, then says, “It has to be a really good story with people that inspire me, or an amount of money that I can’t possibly refuse.” However, she would sign up for “an infinite amount of Avatar” films in a heartbeat — especially with a complex character like Varang, whose story is far from fully told. “I think that is going to be really interesting to feel her becoming more strategic [now she’s met Quaritch, played by Stephen Lang], and see what that does to her brain and to her outlook on life. And obviously, I would personally love her redemption arc, but I don’t know if that serves the story. We’ll see, I don’t know what Jim has planned. Hopefully we will go again.”
Until then, she is ready to reconnect with a slower pace of life on her farm in Northern California. “It’s lovely to be in fancy hotels, but yesterday my daughter said, ‘I want to go home.’ And I feel the same way.” Her home, built from a four-car garage, “is not very big, but it’s very special.” There, she lives in community with friends she and her husband bought lands with, hosts cultural events, gardens, and cares for her animals (she has chickens, cats, and plans on getting donkeys). “To have an egg from one of our chickens, or to make some pesto with basil that I planted from seed — those little moments are the most enormous victories for me. It requires a lot of work, but I can’t imagine it any other way now.” For Chaplin, who is of Mapuche descent on her father’s side, it only felt right “to live a natural life and be in tune with the seasons.” But she explains that it took on a new meaning in her 20s, when she “started working with Indigenous people, with tribal elders from all over the world, wisdom keepers, and people that live traditional lives with traditional values that have been passed down for thousands of years.”
As Chaplin gives me a cup of coffee ordered for us prior to the start of the interview, I ask about her aspirations for the new year and the legacy she wants to leave behind. “I don’t really think about that,” she says. “I’ve been a mom and that has taken all of my creative energy, force, imagination, and power for the past couple of years, and I haven’t wanted to do anything else. But now, I’m ready to go back to work.” Above all, she is drawn to stories that leave her “inspired, uplifted, and curious” — which is exactly how you feel after spending an hour and a half by Oona Chaplin’s side. “I learned curiosity from James Cameron and I’m very happy about that. I don’t have any particular projects on the horizon, but I’m curious, open, and happy about going back to work.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash is now playing only in theaters
GRUMPY MAGAZINE 
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