Though it looked for a while as though James Cameron would just keep announcing Avatar sequels and then pushing the release dates further into the future, there is concrete news that the four – count 'em – sequels will have a firm date to start the production process. And Oona Chaplin is the latest name added to the cast.
Cameron already has Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver returning to the project, with Cliff Curtis as a fellow new face, but is keeping most of the plot details to himself for now. We do know, however, that the new movies will broaden the scope of the story around Pandora and includes a lot of underwater action.
Chaplin will be Varang, a strong, vibrant central character apparently set to appear in all of the incoming sequels. The aim is for the movies to offer stand-alone stories, but one that forms a wider narrative. "At the heart of any movie are the characters," producer and regular Cameron cohort Jon Landau told exhibitors at CineEurope in Barcelona on Tuesday. "One of the strengths of great scripts are always the universal and relatable themes. There’s no more relatable theme than family. At the center of each of our four movies will be the Sully family. Each sequel will play as a stand-alone movie. Each movie’s story will come to its own conclusion… However, when looked at as a whole, the journey across all four movies will create an even larger connected epic saga for audiences around the world."
Production will finally kick off with the performance capture shooting on 25 September. The first sequel is scheduled for release on 18 December 2020, with the others following on 2021, 2024 and 2025.