The focus of chatter about the Avatar sequels has been on James Cameron’s plans and the phalanx of writers he’s assembled to work on the scripts as he prepares for the ambitious task of churning out not one, not two, but three sequels to his 2009 hit. We’ve had some casting talk, but Sigourney Weaver dropped a nugget of information about her role – or, rather, roles – recently.
Talking to the Vulture, team, Weaver confirmed that she’ll be back for the films that will find Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang all returning. Like Lang, whose Colonel Quaritch died in the original, Weaver’s Dr. Grace Augustine didn’t make it out of the adventure alive. But as is so common in science fiction and fantasy, dead doesn’t necessarily mean gone. So just how will she be present? She’s not allowed to say too much, but she did tease the idea… "It will be challenging for me. I can't talk about it, but my part is a little different in each one," she says. "I'll transform somewhat.”
Since she was “uploaded” into Pandora’s organic computer ecosystem, we have a feeling she might be pulling an Obi-Wan for Worthington’s Jake and Saldana’s Neyriti as some sort of ghostly adviser - or perhaps she'll be going through a cycle of reincarnations, which would explain that cryptical remark.
Weaver herself seems ready for any challenges that the new films throw up. "It's going to be an adventure!" she says. "It will be awesome. I can't even imagine what I am taking on — and what James Cameron is taking on — with filming three Avatars at once, but Peter Jackson did it with the Hobbit films, so we have that to look to."
With shooting set to kick off this year in New Zealand, we can expect the first sequel in December 2016, followed by the others in 2017 and 2018.