Avatar star Stephen Lang will make a surprise return in the upcoming sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, despite being last seen with several large arrows in his chest. Speaking with Comicbook.com, Lang has teased the quality of the long, long, long-awaited follow-up, calling it a “beautiful” movie full of “heart,” “feeling,” and “passion.”
"I have seen a lot of Avatar 2. It is amazing. There's no question about it. I mean, I've never seen anything like it and I've seen Avatar. It's pretty out there, it's beautiful. Aside from the fact that it's absolutely gorgeous to look at and everything like that, it's just such a humane film. There's so much heart and feeling and passion in the movie that I think it's going to have a very, very broad appeal."
Avatar: The Way of Water, of course, has a lot to live up to, with the first Avatar holding the title of highest-grossing movie in the world for nearly a decade before being overtaken by Avengers: Endgame in 2019. However, a re-release of Avatar last year allowed the James Cameron-helmed movie to retake the top spot. According to Lang, Avatar: The Way of Water has all the necessary ingredients to equal its predecessor.
Lang will reprise the role of Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar: The Way of the Water. Though the character will have gone through a few...changes. While the character did seemingly meet his demise at the end of Avatar back in 2009, Avatar: The Way of Water will resurrect Quaritch as a big, blue Avatar. “He’s bigger, he’s bluer, he’s pissed off,” Lang revealed back in July. “There may possibly be an aspect of humility. When you take two Na’vi arrows in the chest, that’s gonna have some kind of effect on you.”
James Cameron Has Teased the Unpredictability of Avatar: The Way of Water
As well as being filled to the brim with heart and passion, it also seems that Avatar: The Way of Water will have an unpredictable nature to it. According to director James Cameron, anyway. "I guarantee you, you won't be able to predict it,” the filmmaker teased. “What people hate the most is to go and see a movie and say 'oh… predictable.' This is not predictable, I don't think. I defy anybody to predict where this story goes."
Avatar: The Way of Water will pick up more than a decade after the events of the first film and begins to tell the story of the Sully family, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
Directed by James Cameron and produced by 20th Century Studios, Avatar: The Way of Water stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones.
Avatar: The Way of Water is due for release on December 16, 2022, with further sequels due to land on December 20, 2024, December 18, 2026, and December 22, 2028.