While Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana signed up for more than one Avatar movie when they first agreed to appear in the record-grossing movie, it’s believed the time it’s taken to get a follow-up ready has resulted in their deals lapsing and they weren’t contracted for the three more films that James Cameron now has planned anyway.
That said, it’s still not too surprising that Worthington and Saldana have finalised deals to appear in all three Avatar sequels, which will be shot back-to-back with Avatar 2 arriving in December of 2016, followed by Avatar 3 in 2017 and Avatar 4 in 2018.
The only actor we’ve officially known would be back before is Stephen Lang, who played the villain Marine Colonel Quaritch. As his character died at the end of the first movie, its not known how he’ll be resurrected.
Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are penning the third installment, while Shane Salerno is tackling the fourth film, all working from the overall story arc that James Cameron came up with. While it’s known the films will return to Pandora, no story details have officially been revealed. However it’s been said the film will explore far more of Pandora and it’s believed Jake Sully and Neytiri will have had kids.
James Cameron commented,”Jake Sully is a rare combination of passion, strength, street smarts and soul, which requires a lot from an actor. Sam brought to the role a combination of sensitivity, vulnerability and strength. Zoe captured every aspect of the character I envisioned, bringing to Neytiri a mix of delicacy, fierceness and incredible physicality. I am beyond pleased they’ll be returning with us to Pandora.” (Source: THR)