There's been a lot of talk out of the Avatar camp lately: producer Jon Landau talking about the progress of Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, plus James Cameron revealing Avatar 4 would be a prequel.  But what happens after those films are wrapped up within the next few years?  As we posted previously, it appears that Landau and Cameron's next film in the line-up is still expected to be Battle Angel, an adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's manga, Battle Angel Alita.  The story follows a scientist who discovers an android in a junkyard.  He brings her back to life, patches her up and raises her as a daughter.  Then, the two cavort on bounty hunting adventures.  Cameron's passion for the project is well-documented, but fans will likely have to wait until 2017 at the earliest to see Battle Angel on screen.  Hit the jump to see what Landau had to say about the project. In an interview with MovieZine, Landau commented on the possibility of seeing Battle Angel on screen by 2017:

I am sure you will get to see "Battle Angel." It is one of my favorite stories, a great story about a young woman's journey to self-discovery. It is a film that begs the question: "What does it mean to be human? '. Are you human if you have a heart, a brain or a soul? I look forward to giving the audience the film.

While clearly no casting decisions are in the works yet since a good chunk of time remains until Battle Angel gets off the ground, Landau reinforced that the Avatar sequels would be their focus over the next few years with the manga adaptation following them up:

Who we want to put in the lead role today and who we want to put in the lead role when the time comes, it can be two totally different people who would be right for the role. Now we focus on "Avatar" for the next four or five years. It will hopefully right after that.

A mere five years has never stopped casting speculation before, so who do you think would play the role of Alita if she were cast today? Who might be a good fit in five years? Let us know in the comments!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the manga series, here's the description from the first volume (via Amazon):

When Doc Ido, a talented cyberphysician, finds Alita's head in a junk heap, she has lost all memory of her past life. But when he reconstructs her, she discovers her body still instinctively remembers the Panzer Kunst, the most powerful cyborg fighting technique ever known. In the postapocalyptic world of the Scrapyard, as the secrets of Alita's past unfold, each day is a struggle for survival.