Avatar: The Way of Water's Stephen Lang Reveals How James Cameron Got Him Back as Miles Quaritch (Exclusive)

The eagerly anticipated sequel to James Cameron's Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, hits theaters this week and returning for the sequel are many of the first film's cast — including Stephen Lang. Lang played Colonel Miles Quartich, a character who dies at the hands of Zoe Saldana's Neytiri. With his character dead, fans may not have expected to see Lang in the sequel and now, Lang is opening up about how Cameron got him to return, and it turns out that the conversation started a long time ago, even before the first Avatar hit theaters.

"The initial conversation actually happened in 2007, even as we were, we hadn't finished Avatar 1 yet. And so… and at that point he mentioned that he wasn't done with Quartich, so it was nice to hear but I didn't get that enthusiastic because we didn't even know if Avatar would be a hit. Who was to even know there would be a sequel?" Lang told ComicBook.com. "And then in 2010, in January 2010, I was presenting him with an award at a dinner and at the dinner he told me I'd be back. So, I was pretty enthusiastic about it at that point. And then we began discussing it and he told me how it was gonna go down and the extend of court's involvement in this narrative. I must say I was enthusiastic, and I encouraged him!"

Lang also spoke about what it was like for him to get to explore Quartich again in the upcoming sequel.

"If all that happened was the Quartich became of a repeat of what he was in the first film, I don't think it would be worth doing," Lang said. "But that's just not the case with Jim Cameron. You know it's gonna get denser, it's gonna get deeper and more expansive. For me, for an actor, it's just a real field day to be able to explore this character and to find the heart in the character because I thin in the original story, he's got some attributes, he's got a certain amount of charisma and dynamism. He's a good leader and he's loyal, you know, he's got some stuff. But now we begin to see some of the depth of the character as well. Hopefully, hopefully you see the depth!"

What is Avatar 2 about?

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure. The film will see the return of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald. New cast members include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, David Thewlis, and CJ Jones.

Avatar: The Way of Water is currently scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on December 16th.