With Avatar 2 and the rest of the Avatar sequels starting production just a few weeks ago, the cast continues to be rounded out, with the latest addition returning from the original blockbuster Avatar. Giovanni Ribisi has come aboard to reprise his role as Parker Selfridge from the original Avatar, joining returning stars such as Sam Worthington (Jake Sully), Zoe Saldana (Neytiri), Sigourney Weaver (Dr. Grace Augustine), Stephen Lang (Colonel Quaritch), CCH Pounder (Moat) and Matt Gerald (Corporal Lyle Wainfleet). This also comes a few weeks after the young Avatar 2 cast was announced, which make up the Sully family, members of the Metkayina Clan and a former Hell's Gate Adolescent.

Giovanni Ribisi also joins a slew of new cast members including Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, the leader of the Pandora underwater reef clan known as the Metkayina Clan, Oona Chaplin as a new character named Varang and Kate Winslet, reuniting with her Titanic director James Cameron, playing Ronal, although no details have been given about her character. The young cast members revealed when production got under include Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton and Trinity Bliss and Jake Sully and Neytiri's children, Neteyam, Lo'ak and Tuktirey, a.k.a. Tuk. The Metakyina Clan, who are said to reside on "gigantic oceanic atoll reefs, include Bailey Bass as the free-diver Tsireya, described as the Neytiri of the ocean, with Filip Geljo playing Aonung and Duane Evans Jr. playing Roxto, both described as male hunters and free-divers. The final young cast member is Jack Champion, who is playing Javier "Spider" Socorro, a human teenager, born at Hell's Gate but prefers his time in the Pandoran rainforest more than the asphalt of Hell's Gate.

In the original Avatar, Giovanni Ribisi's character Parker Selfridge is a corporate administrator for the Resources Development Administration (RDA), which has been tasked with finding new natural resources for Earth, since the planet's own resources have depleted, leading to global energy crisis. This leads the RDA to Pandora, where they've been mining the resource known as "unobtanium." At first he seems willing to wipe out the Na'vi to protect the RDA's interests, he becomes hesitant and only agrees to attack the Na'vi after Quaritch convinces him the attacks will be humane, but protests when he finds out that isn't the case.

James Cameron is directing the Avatar sequels from scripts that he wrote with a number of different co-writers. Avatar 2 was co-written by Josh Friedman (War Of the Worlds) and Shane Salerno (Savages), with Avatar 3 co-written by the writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Shane Salerno, who also co-wrote Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 solely with James Cameron. Production will take place concurrently on all four films, with the Avatar sequels said to cost a whopping $1 billion altogether.

Very few story details have been released at this time, so it remains to be seen how large a role Giovanni Ribisi will have, but the actor has been confirmed for all four sequels, so he'll certainly be sticking around for all of these upcoming Avatar movies. After several years of delays, the Avatar sequels release dates were finally set in April, with Avatar 2 arriving December 18, 2020, followed by Avatar 3 on December 17, 2021, Avatar 4 on December 20, 2024 and Avatar 5 on December 19, 2025. This casting news was broke by Deadline earlier today. Giovanni Ribisi most recently starred in The Bad Batch and he returns as the title character in the new season of Amazon's Sneaky Pete.