Filming Wraps on First Two 'Avatar' Sequels

After Avatar became the highest grossing movie of all time at the worldwide box office, it was no surprise to hear that director James Cameron was planning to extend the franchise. However, two sequels soon turned into four, and the long-awaited Avatar franchise has been "in the works" for more than nine years, with the release dates of the films continuously in a state of being pushed back.

Finally, it seems as though the Avatar franchise has found its footing and is moving in the right direction. As of now, it sounds like the first two of the four planned Avatar sequels have wrapped filming, according to star Sigourney Weaver.

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Weaver was asked about her role in the new films, which will see her taking on a different character than she played in the first movie. She won't be switching characters between each and every film, though. This new role will stay the same throughout all of the sequels.

"No, it's a continuous character," Weaver said. "We just finished shooting two and three. We shot it in LA and James has announced publicly that there's a lot of underwater work, so we learned how to free dive and we did many scenes underwater which was challenging and kind of cool.

"I'm so lucky because I always grew up near the water and I'm married to someone from Hawaii and I had learned to swim. Also, you have the best safety divers in the world. The one scary thing is sometimes you have to be weighted down to be on the bottom. Luckily, I would have a safety diver on each arm to get me back to the surface. I was grateful for that, because otherwise I would still be there."

Although the first two films are wrapped, it's going to take quite a lot of post-production to bring the underwater special effects to life. Avatar 2 isn't slated to hit theaters until December 2020, more than two years from now, and 11 after the original Avatar was released.

The new Avatar films will see the return of stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, and Stephen Lang alongside Weaver. They'll be joined by newcomers Oona Chaplin, Kate Winslet, and Cliff Curtis.

Are you excited for the Avatar sequels to finally arrive? What are you expecting from the series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!