The full trailer for the long-awaited “Avatar” sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” arrived on Nov. 2. The new footage gives us our best look yet at the new struggles of the Na’vi people and the gorgeous way their water-filled world is brought to life. The movie is set a decade later and follows Sam Worthington‘s Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña’s Neytiri, who fell in love in the first film. On Dec. 7, a second trailer was released featuring a new song by The Weeknd titled “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” which will be featured on the movie’s soundtrack, available Dec. 15.
We already know one actor who plays one of their kids — Sigourney Weaver, whose original character Dr. Grace Augustine died in the original 2009 “Avatar” film. Weaver, 72, returns for the second film as one of the couple’s teenage children named Kiri. She told Empire magazine on July 1, “I think we all pretty much remember what we were feeling as adolescents. I certainly do. I was 5′ 10″ or 5′ 11″ when I was 11. I felt strongly that Kiri would feel awkward a lot of the time. She’s searching for who she is. I was thrilled to be given that challenge.”
It’s been a long time since the original “Avatar” landed in theaters — over a decade, in fact. The new movie takes place in a future when humans, who have completely depleted Earth’s natural resources, travel to the fictional moon of Pandora to mine for resources, kicking off a war with the Na’vi, the moon’s inhabitants, a species of 10-foot-tall humanoid aliens. The movie went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
While director James Cameron’s film was supposed to get a sequel many years ago, production was delayed on the big-budget feature. The time has finally come, though, for “Avatar 2” to be seen by the world, and, yes, there are other sequels in the works.
Ahead, here’s everything we know about “Avatar 2,” including the cast, trailers, and runtime.