Though there wasn’t really any concern about them not coming back, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana have now officially solidified their deals to star in all three of the upcoming Avatar sequels.  Heat Vision confirms that Worthington and Saldana will be reprising their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri, and while plot details for this trio of films are under wraps, the report notes that Sully and Neytiri will have children.  The first actor to sign on for all three films was Stephen Lang, and the announcement of his casting took away any stakes we had with regards to his character surviving or dying in the next two movies.

Director James Cameron is co-writing Avatar 2, 3, and 4 with Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, and Shane Salerno, respectively.  We know that filming will take place entirely in New Zealand, and Cameron plans on shooting all three pics at once when production gets underway later this year.  Avatar 2 is finally slated for release December 2016, with the other two films following in December 2017 and 2018.