In science-fiction, no one ever stays dead for long. Sigourney Weaver, who played Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise, can certainly attest to that fact. So, when her scientist Grace Augustine perished after a gun battle in James Cameron’s sci-fi effects extravaganza Avatar, we took her demise with a grain of salt. And now that three sequels are in the works, director James Cameron has made no secret of his intention to involve Weaver, one of his long-time collaborators. Now, however, comments by the King of the World himself have shed some more light on Weaver’s part in Avatar 2, 3 and 4.
Recently, Cameron said the following of Weaver’s role in his upcoming films:
“Sigourney and I have a long creative history, dating back to 1985 when we made ‘Aliens’…We’re good friends who’ve always worked well together, so it just feels right that she’s coming back for the ‘Avatar’ sequels. Her character of Grace Augustine, as fans know, died in the first movie, so she’s playing a different and in many ways more challenging character in the upcoming films. We’re both looking forward to this new creative challenge, the latest chapter in our long and continuing collaboration.”
If I had to hazard a guess as to the “different and in many ways more challenging character” that Weaver will be taking on for the sequels, I’d say she’ll probably serve as a manifestation of alien planet Pandora’s mother goddess Eywa. After all, protagonist Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) struggled to save Grace after she was mortally wounded by a gunshot, bringing her to the Tree of Souls on Pandora and praying for Eywa to help her survive long enough to survive being transferred (via a neural bridge) from her human body into her avatar. Though his prayers went unanswered at that time, Grace’s spirit was left with Eywa at the end of Avatar, so any re-entry point for Weaver would likely involve that tree-loving deity.
Weaver won’t be the only character getting resurrected for the movies – Stephen Lang’s Colonel Quatrich is coming back, too (probably as a clone of himself). Worthington and Zoe Saldana are already signed on to reprise their starring roles, and the rest of the cast is sure to be announced in the coming months.
The three, still-untitled Avatar sequels will film back-to-back, and production is expected to start this year. The films are pencilled in for release in the Decembers of 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Tell us, are you looking forward to delving back into Pandora, or has the long wait since the first Avatar made you lose interest? Let us know below!