Sigourney Weaver talks Avatar sequels, says they’re “worth the wait”

In 2009, James Cameron's decades long passion project titled Avatar was finally released. It broke box office records, blew audiences away with its use of special effects, and had people very excited for the future of cinema. Due to its success, Fox greenlit 4 sequels (some of which were supposed to be released already) that will come out in the mid to late 2020s despite the fact they begin filming this year.

Little is known about the films but Ripley herself, Sigourney Weaver, has given some small tidbits about the upcoming movies and believes the sequels are justified despite some people thinking it's too late for more Avatar.

“There’s a very good reason why it turned out to be four sequels. Having reread all four of them, I think they’re absolutely extraordinary and worth the wait,” said Weaver.

She went on to talk about how they'll go about making the next few movies and how a lot of the hard stuff is already done.

“I love the way we’re doing them, we’re kind of doing 2 and 3 simultaneously and it’s going to work very well. A lot of the heavy lifting has already been done in 1, opening up the world and the characters and everything and I think that Jim has had a wonderful time writing these four, and it’s going to be very exciting bringing them to life.”

The sequels will continue the themes of the first film and will see the planet of Pandora face more danger from other corporations and human beings.

“These films are very much about the peril of this beautiful planet, and [Cameron] is continuing the same themes of greed and callousness of the corporations and plight of the indigenous people. At this point after a long and very satisfying career — I can’t believe it’s been 40 years, but anyway — I’m very excited to be able to work on these four stories.” She laughs. “I can really, really appreciate it.”

Weaver didn't go into detail into how her character fits into the new movies and we probably won't know for quite a long time but at least she seems to be genuinely excited about it!

Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 will release December 18th, 2020, December 17th, 2021, December 20th, 2024, and December 19th, 2025 respectively. Ubisoft will also be releasing an Avatar game in the future but it supposedly won't drop before 2020.

[EW]