Avatar: Stephen Lang Reveals His Reaction To Getting James Cameron's Call to Return in The Way of Water
Disney is set to release the highly anticipated sequel to James Cameron's Avatar, and fans couldn't be more excited to see what's next. Avatar was released over ten years ago and quickly became the highest grossing film of all time, only to be taken over by Avengers: Endgame and to take it back from the Marvel Studios film. Avatar: The Way of the Water is set to make a big splash at the box office and it's probably due to its amazing returning cast that features Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. The latter of which perishes at the hands of Saldana's character in the first film, so his return might be perplexing. Lang wasn't expecting to return so when he got Cameron's call he didn't hold him to it. During a recent interview with Indian Express, Lang revealed his reaction to getting the call to return for the sequel.
"James Cameron did not promise me that I would be a part of Avatar 2," Lang told the site. "He informed me that I would be there, I sought no promises and he made none. At some point he had said that character of Colonel Quaritch was going to return. I was of course pleased and thrilled because you know at the end of Avatar, there is a certain finality when you receive two very large arrows in your chest, you might think you are finished at that point. So it was a great bonus and a blessing that I received that call (from Cameron), and I am back in a very very significant way."
Cameron has been developing sequels to his record-breaking film for over a decade. The studio has announced four sequels to Avatar, with two already filmed, and the other two are waiting to see how the first does at the box office. The director shot both sequels back to back due to how the scenes they needed to film for both. About a year ago, Cameron confirmed to Variety why he shot the films this way.
"We mixed the schedules for 2 and 3 together, based on the types of scenes and the environments," Cameron revealed to the trade. "I said, let's just treat it like it's a six-hour miniseries and we're only going to go to Frankfurt once. We're going to shoot all the scenes from 2 and 3 at the same time. That was more or less the motif. Actor availability was an issue as well. Anything that had to be done with a specific actor, we did all the scenes for 2 and 3 together — and a little bit of 4. Because once again, I had to shoot the kids out. They're allowed to age six years in the middle of the story on page 25 of movie 4. So I needed everything before then, and then everything after, we'll do later."
The sequel is confirmed to feature several returning stars that include Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stepehn Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, and Sigourney Weaver. The cast for the sequels will include several more newcomers than returning members, though, with the likes of Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, David Thewlis, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones all set to appear as well. Plot details for the sequels are currently unknown.
Avatar: The Way of Water is set to arrive on December 16, 2022, with Avatar 3 set to debut two years later on December 20, 2024.
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