"Fear the Walking Dead" star Cliff Curtis lands a major role in the upcoming sequels of "Avatar."
Deadline reports that Curtis, the actor who portrays the role of former high school teacher Travis Manawa in the AMC spin-off of "The Walking Dead," signed on to play the lead role in all the four upcoming "Avatar" sequels.
According to the report, Curtis will portray the role of Tonowari, the leader of the Metkayina clan. The members of the clan are described as reef people who live under the sea.
He will join the roster of returning actors from the 2009 blockbuster sci-fi hit, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver.
Curtis first talked about his new casting role in an interview with Stuff, saying he is very delighted to be working on James Cameron's highly anticipated films.
"It was totally left of field," the actor stated as he was about to leave the Auckland airport to fly back to Los Angeles. "Just the way they've conducted this, the way they've put it together, the way they approached me about it — it's a real dream process, I don't think it gets any better than that."
"Avatar 2" was initially scheduled to be released in 2015, but the production was moved to 2014, which delayed the release of the film, as well as of "Avatar 3" and "Avatar 4" to December 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively. Then in 2015, the films' release dates were pushed back to another year. However, the production experienced another delay. This resulted the films to be released on Dec. 18, 2020 for "Avatar 2," Dec. 17, 2021 for "Avatar 3," Dec. 20, 2024 for "Avatar 4," and an additional release date for "Avatar 5" on Dec. 19, 2025.
More casting news and other production updates for the "Avatar" sequels are expected to be announced once the filming for the first sequel begins in New Zealand on Aug. 15.
