Avatar 2 star says his returning character (who died in the first movie) is "incredibly fascinating"

Stephen Lang in Avatar
(Image credit: 20th Century Studios/Disney)

Stephen Lang, who played Miles Quaritch in Avatar, has talked about his character's return in the sequels.

"I’m not gonna say, 'No, he's absolutely the same,'" Lang told ComingSoon.net. "I think he's an incredibly fascinating character and he wouldn't be back if [director] Jim Cameron wasn't fascinated in him as well and kind of bent on seeing where he goes. Where does that character lead him as a writer, as a director? And where does it lead me as an actor?"

He added: "And so, I think you can absolutely look for some areas of extreme growth in the character; and then probably areas of regression in the character as well, hopefully, over a period of four more films. Of course, we need him to be very, very interesting, where, by the end you've taken a journey, or you've witnessed a character go on a life journey that was pretty interesting. You know, that you were glad that you could observe. So that's what we're trying to do."

Weirdly enough, Quaritch died in the first Avatar movie. How exactly he'll be back to continue his villainous ways in the sequels hasn't been explained just yet. Of course, the first Avatar film showed us some incredibly advanced tech, which means there could be a plethora of reasonable explanations for how exactly someone hit in the chest with two arrows can be up and about again.

There are a slew of Avatar sequels on the way – in fact, there will be five movies total. They've been repeatedly delayed, but as long as the pandemic doesn't push them back again, Avatar 2 is set for release December 16, 2022, with Avatar 3 following on December 20, 2024.

While you wait for more action from Pandora, check out our guide to 2021's movie release dates.

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.