We now have further evidence that James Cameron’s long-delayedAvatar 2and its sequels are finally happening. Shooting is expected to start later this year. And the casting process is well under way to keep things on schedule.Fear the Walking Deadstar Cliff Curtis has joined the cast forall four Avatar sequelsin a new lead role.
The news comes courtesy ofDeadline, who report that Cliff Curtis is playing a new character named Tonowari, the leader of the Metkayina, a reef clan from Pandora. James Cameron has been saying for years that a lot ofAvatar 2, and presumably the other sequels, will be taking place underwater. With this new casting, it looks like that will indeed be the case.
As far as Cliff Curtis goes, if you don’t know him fromFear the Walking Dead, he also starred in the Oscar-winning dramaThe Piano, as well asTraining DayandOnce Were Warriors. He also starred inLive Free or Die Hard, in addition to the much-malignedThe Last Airbender, but it would be hard to hold that against him. For not being a big, household name, he most certainly has the experience in blockbuster movies. Though, this will almost certainly give his career a pretty big boost, since the firstAvatarremains the highest-grossing movie of all time and he will be in all four sequels. Even if the sequels are a fraction of the success that the original was, they will still bemonster blockbusters, since the firstAvatargrossed $2.78 billion worldwide.
James Cameron still hasn’t revealed any noteworthyplot details for Avatar 2and the other sequels, but the reason for the huge delay, according to the director, is because when he started writing he realized that the story needed to be told in four movies. So it took him quite some time to get all of the scripts written and to get everything prepared. He has also been working on some more technological leaps forward in order to bring his vision for theAvatarsequels to life, including some complicated underwater filming techniques, as well as the possibility of “glasses-free” 3D before the finalAvatarmovie hits theaters.
In addition to the newly cast Cliff Curtis,Avatar 2will bring back Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. James Cameron will be directing all fourAvatarsequels. Fox recently set some new release dates for theAvatarsequels, withAvatar 2set for release onDecember 18, 2020.Avatar 3will then follow on July 01, 2025, withAvatar 4not set to arrive until three years later on August 05, 2025, and, finally,Avatar 5on June 12, 2025.
