While some remain dubious theAvatarsequelsare ever actually going to happen, the films just took a major step forward by casting the first new lead role. Indeed,THRreports thatFear the Walking DeadstarCliff Curtishas signed on to fill a lead role in all fourAvatarsequels. TheTraining DayandLast Airbenderactor will be playing Tonowari, the leader of the Metkayina reef people clan. FilmmakerJames Cameronhas been saying for years that theAvatarsequels would explore a whole new environment of Pandora by going underwater, and it appears the Metkayina may play a major role in the story arc ofAvatar 2,Avatar 3,Avatar 4, andAvatar 5.
Curtis is the first new actor to join the franchise since development began on the sequels in the wake ofAvatar’s success, way back in 2010. Release dates have been announced and then pushed back a number of times, andmost recently20th Century Fox setAvatar 2and3for release in December 2020 and 2021, withAvatar 4and5following in December 2024 and 2025. This indicates that Cameron will indeed be shooting these sequels in blocks and not necessarily all four at once, with production slated to begin early next year onAvatar 2and3, after which Cameron and the team will break to start post-production work on those two sequels before going back to shoot the final two films.
What this means for Curtis’ future onFear the Walking Deadis unclear. The AMC spinoff series has already been renewed for a fourth season with new showrunners, but Season 3—which premieres this June—started filming in January. If they keep that schedule, Curtis’Avatarduties would likely conflict with the filming ofFear the Walking DeadSeason 4, so again it’s unclear if theFearproduction will shift, if Curtis’ character is being killed off in Season 3, or if he can juggle duties on both projects simultaneously. Given that theAvatarmovies are shot entirely in a motion-capture volume it’s possible to shoot Curtis’ scenes in a block without worrying about the schedules of other actors, so there are a number of ways this could all play out.
Sam Worthington,Zoe Saldana, andSigourney Weaverare all confirmed to be returning for theAvatarsequels, which were written by Cameron and a combination ofJosh Friedman(Emerald City),Rick Jaffa&Amanda Silver(Rise of the Planet of the Apes), andShane Salerno(Savages). And while some may still be dubious, the staggered release schedule of theAvatarsequels combined with Curtis’ casting seem to suggest Cameron and Fox may have finally pinned this thing down.
