What is not surprising is that Zoe Saldana’s Avatar role as Neytiri has been confirmed, along with Sam Worthington’s Avatar Role as Jake Sully. What is surprising is that the sequel will be the first in an Avatar trilogy. The next Avatar release date is set for December 2016, and the sequels will follow each year in 2017 and 2018.

James Cameron, the film’s director and producer, said that Saldana and Worthington capture the essence of their characters perfectly. “Jake Sully is a rare combination of passion, strength, street smarts and soul, which requires a lot from an actor,” said Cameron in an official statement. “Sam brought to the role a combination of sensitivity, vulnerability and strength. Zoe captured every aspect of the character I envisioned, bringing to Neytiri a mix of delicacy, fierceness and incredible physicality. I am beyond pleased they’ll be returning with us to Pandora.”

Another surprise in the coming sequels is the return of Stephen Lang, who played Colonel Miles Quaritch. If you recall, Quaritch was thought to be dead in the first movie, but somehow will be making a comeback for the next three.

While there will be some new scenery in the film, Cameron says that, for the most part, the setting will remain the same as it was in the first Avatar. “It’s going to be a lot of new imagery and a lot of new environments and creatures across Pandora,” said Cameron. “We’re blowing it out all over the place. At first I thought I was going to take it onto other worlds as well, in the same solar system, but it turned out not to be necessary. I mean the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasy land that is going to occupy people for decades to come, the way I see it. There are underwater scenes and surface-water scenes having to do with indigenous ocean cultures that are distributed across the three films.”

Are you excited for the return of Avatar? Leave your comments below.

Image via YouTube