Back in April, Avatar director James Cameron made the dual announcement that there will actually be four new Avatar sequels instead of three, while pushing Avatar 2's release up a year to December 2018. The director didn't address when exactly production will begin on Avatar 2, but today we have word from Sigourney Weaver, who is returning as Dr. Grace Augustine, who shed some doubts on whether or not the sequel will be ready by that date. Here's what she had to say in a recent interview, while also commenting on three of the four sequel's scripts.

"We haven't started it, so I don't know how realistic that date is, but I think it's going to be very exciting. I've read three of the four sequel's scripts, and they're even more extraordinary than the first one."

The actress revealed these details to The Hollywood Reporter, during a screening of her new film A Monster Calls, which debuts in limited release December 23 before opening nationwide on January 6. We reported back in February that James Cameron was scheduled to start production on Avatar 2 this past April in New Zealand, but that was before the release date was pushed into 2018. It's possible that production will begin next spring in New Zealand, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Way back in 2014, Avatar star Zoe Saldana revealed that all of the Avatar sequels will be shooting simultaneously, throughout a eight to nine month stretch of filming. That was before a fourth sequel was added, though, and it hasn't been revealed yet if James Cameron now intends to shoot all four simultaneously as well. After Avatar 2 arrives in December 2018, Avatar 3 will arrive two years later in 2020, followed by Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 arriving back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. With four movies arriving within a span of five years, it seems likely that at least a few of these movies will be shot back-to-back, if not all four being shot simultaneously.

Our most recent update on Avatar 2 was in late October, when director James Cameron revealed that he wants "glasses-free 3D" technology to be implemented for all of his sequels. The filmmaker stated he is still "very bullish" on 3D, while adding that it needs to have a brighter projection with no glasses required, but he thinks that he can get there by the time Avatar 2 hits theaters in December 2018. Hopefully we'll have more updates on these highly-anticipated sequels very soon.