'Avatar 2' release date and rumors: Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver to return?

As of now, fans online have been focusing on James Cameron's current project, "Alita: Battle Angel," but there have been updates on the sequel to his massive 2009 hit, "Avatar."

Rumor has it that Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver are set to return for "Avatar 2" and the story will focus on the lives of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) years after the events of the first "Avatar" movie.

Rumors suggest that a resurrection is in store for Lang's character Col. Quaritich. Quariitich's character died in the final battle between the humans and the Na'vi, so it would be quite the stretch to see him making a return in the sequel.

Since the movie is set in the future, it could be possible that Lang could be playing the clone of the colonel in the movie, or he could be just like Jake Sully and be the Col.'s twin brother.

Lang himself has commented on his involvement in the movie, and he said, "When it kind of became this global phenomenon within a very, very short time that the man said to me, 'You're coming back,' and I said, 'How?' He said, 'I told you that already!' And you know, he'd mentioned it once, a long time ago, when we'd been shooting, but it was speculative! You don't dare to believe anything. 'It's totally not real.'"

As for the return of Sigourney Weaver, her character Grace had become "one with Eywa" in the movie. Since Eywa is some sort of neural network that the Na'vi use to connect with past ancestors, it's possible that Weaver could return as Grace being part of the system.

In an interview with Variety, Cameron has confirmed that the storyline will be focusing on "Jake and Neytiri and their children." Cameron also said that the franchise is more of a family saga that focuses on the struggle with the humans.

"Avatar 2" is set for release in December 2018.