Will Sigourney Weaver’s Return To AVATAR Franchise Be In A Different Role?

Sigourney Weaver’s return to the Avatar franchise is no secret. Sure, her character of alien anthropologist Grace Augustine didn’t survive to see the final credits role, but the matter of her character’s death did leave the door open for future appearances. Weaver herself has been chatty in the past about how Grace could possibly return. But now Avatar franchise director James Cameron is stating that Weaver’s return is something different from what we may be expecting.

Deadline is quoting the director on the subject of Weaver’s return saying –

Sigourney and I have a long creative history, dating back to 1985 when we made Aliens. We’re good friends who’ve always worked well together, so it just feels right that she’s coming back for the Avatar sequels. Her character of Grace Augustine, as fans know, died in the first movie, so she’s playing a different and in many ways more challenging character in the upcoming films. We’re both looking forward to this new creative challenge, the latest chapter in our long and continuing collaboration.

Of course, this could just be Cameron trying to misdirect fans about the circumstances of Grace’s return. And if we were to split hairs, “a different and in many ways more challenging character” could indeed jibe with the speculation that Grace would return after her consciousness/soul/whatever has traveled through the planet’s ecosphere (soulsphere?), perhaps in some vessel specifically grown for her. It’s certain that Cameron just isn’t casting her as Grace’s twin sister, isn’t it?

Currently Caeron is working on the screenplays for the trio of Avatar films he has planned with screenwriters Josh Friedman (War Of The Worlds), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Shane Salerno (Savages) each working on one of the sequels. The films will roll out annually at Christmas time starting in 2016.