James Cameron Is Having Sigourney Weaver Play The Teenage Daughter Of Jake And Neytiri In The First ‘Avatar’ Sequel

James Cameron takes big chances. Thing is, The Abyss aside, his bets usually pay off, big time. The entire entertainment industry was sure Titanic would be a box office disaster, and look where that got them. The same thing happened with 2009’s Avatar, which, after a brief usurping, is still the highest grossing movie ever. It’s happening again with his threatened four Avatar sequels, which will almost certainly make all the money. In the meantime, the first incredibly expensive, incredibly belated sequel sure sounds eccentric, especially given this news: As per Empire, Cameron is not only bringing back Sigourney Weaver, and she’s not only playing a new character. No, she’s playing a teenager.

In the first Avatar, Weaver played one of the sympathetic humans: Dr. Grace Augustine, who died before the climactic spectacular. When it was announced the actress, who earned an Oscar nomination for Cameron’s Aliens back in 1986, was returning, people wondered how that would work. But Cameron, as ever, thought outside the box. Now she’ll be playing Kiri, who’s not only a teenage Na’vi but also the adopted daughter of Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana’s Jake and Neytiri.

This might be a first — a septuagenarian playing a teen, albeit via motion-capture. But she relished it. “I think we all pretty much remember what we were feeling as adolescents,” Weaver told Empire. “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 by Jim.”

Avatar: The Way of Water, whose principal photography was finished a year-and-a-half ago, is currently due in theaters on December 16 of this year.

(Via Empire)