"Avatar" will be getting four sequels and the first one already has a cast to show for it — even though it will not be premiering until 2020.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have thankfully put their time together to good use, as their children will be playing crucial roles in the sequel to "Avatar," according to Entertainment Weekly.
The first of the four sequels to the 2009 blockbuster film began filming on Sept. 25, and a photo has revealed the young cast of the Na'vi clan, called the Metkaniya.
The photo shows Britain Dalton, Filip Geljo, Jamie Flatters, Bailey Bass, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion and Duane Evans Jr. on set, atop huge rocks and in front of a lush rainforest landscape.
"Avatar 2" producer Jon Landau told Entertainment Weekly that the kids represent a huge focus shift from the original "Avatar" film.
"We never had this youthful element before, and that brings a different kind of energy to the film," Landau said. "They represent the future generation of Pandora and play a very significant role — not just in this movie but throughout all the movies."
While the kids are not yet presented in "Avatar"-esque fashion, one of them looks to already be in costume. Twelve-year-old Champion plays Javier "Spider" Socorro, a human teenager at the Hell's Gate military complex, an important location in the original "Avatar" film.
"Avatar" director James Cameron spent years working on the scripts for the four sequels. The film surpassed his earlier 1998 film "Titanic" as the highest-grossing film of all time.
"Nobody is watching 'Avatar' [on home video] or waiting in four-hour lines at Disney's World of Avatar or going to the sold-out Cirque du Soleil shows because of the film's 3-D," Landau said, explaining Cameron's long pre-production time period.
"People respond because of the movie's characters, themes, and emotions — and we have all that again. When the cast read what Jim Cameron wrote [for the sequels], it hit them with even greater resonance than the first movie," he added.
"Avatar 2" is set to premiere in theaters on Dec. 18, 2020.
