Avatar 2 Will Be For The Youths, According To This New Photo

It's been eight long years since James Cameron premiered his Avatar universe and fans are finally getting a first look at the movie's long-awaited sequel. Entertainment Weekly has a first look at the film's cast and judging by the bevy of kids, it looks like Cameron is hoping to capture the attention of young folk everywhere.

"We never had this youthful element before, and that brings a different kind of energy to the film," producer Jon Landau told EW. "They represent the future generation of Pandora and play a very significant role — not just in this movie, but throughout all the movies."

Filming for the first of four sequels started this week, with an announced release date of December 18, 2020. EW reports that the young brood represents the offspring of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and additional inhabitants of Pandora. Both Worthington and Saldana are slated to return for the sequel, which will also include a new tribe of Na'Vi called the Metkayina.

Instead of the forest-dwelling group that viewers saw in the film's first installment, the Metkayina live on islands out in the open ocean, which could give them an entirely different look than the blue feline designs in the 2009 film.

Even though the magazine is giving fans a glimpse of new cast members Britain Dalton, Filip Geljo, Jamie Flatters, Bailey Bass, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion, and Duane Evans Jr., there's no telling what they'll look like after they get the CGI treatment. After all, it was tough to see Saldana under all the movie magic.

There is one exception, however. EW notes that Champion will play a regular ol' human, Javier "Spider" Socorro, who was born at the Hell's Gate military base featured in Avatar.

While critics are calling Cameron out for the long stretch of time between the first film and its sequels — 12 years — he's not worried. With franchise tie-ins like World of Pandora and an Avatar-themed Cirque du Soleil show, the film isn't being relegated to the archives just yet. And with four sequels in the works, there's plenty of time for people to get reacquainted with Cameron's fantasy world.