Avatar: The Way of Water's Zoe Saldaña, Sam Worthington Reveal James Cameron's First Pitch (Exclusive)

By Adam Barnhardt

James Cameron has had the over-arching story of his biggest sci-fi tale locked away for decades, finally introducing movie-goers to the world of Pandora in 2009's Avatar. Years later, Cameron and his ensemble are getting ready to release the franchise's first sequel, one that's taken over a decade to make. Though officially beginning production in 2017, Avatar leads Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington both tell us they first knew a sequel was happening they'd return for a few years before cameras began to roll.

"I do remember that 13 years ago during the first Avatar press tour, maybe it was adrenaline and happiness to finally be together and be a part of something so special before the reception was gonna be this big. I remember Jim just sharing with us the hope that if this is successful, we're gonna definitely have a sequel," Saldana tells ComicBook.com. "But it wasn't until 2013 that we started to really know for certain that, that he had gone back to his writer's room and he was writing it, writing the sequels."

Avatar went on to become the highest-grossing film at the box office, effectively guaranteeing Cameron could film however many sequels he wanted. Worthington adds he learned about his role in the sequel around six years after the first film became a cultural phenomenon.

"It was about 2015 when I was pushing my wife who was pregnant at the time. So we were pushing around a room with all these visuals, and the visuals was of this family story mapped out over this saga of however movies," the actor says. "It wasn't even movies at that point. It was just this story that Jim was kind of campfire telling me and her, and I'm thinking, 'I'm about to have a kid and about to follow this kind of adventure of a family was kind of had a weird parallel symmetry.' I think that was very exciting that if we got the opportunity to tell the whole saga, that would be great."

You can see our full interview with the duo above. Saldana and Worthington lead an ensemble that includes Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang, Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, and Jemaine Clement, amongst others.

Avatar: The Way of Water arrives in theaters on December 16th. 

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