Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh will not be part of Avatar: Fire and Ash, according to director James Cameron, reported Deadline.
There were expectations that Yeoh would join the 'Avatar' franchise in the third instalment, which is all set to hit the theatres on December 19, 2025
However, Cameron has another update that she will be seen in the fourth instalment.
"Michelle Yeoh won't be in 3. She's in 4 and 5," said Cameron. "So that got a little bit misreported. She will be coming in soon to do her part, which is an interesting, fun character," he added.
He continued, "I mean, we're getting ahead of ourselves now. This whole thing has been planned for years and years. The scripts were all written years ago, through the end of movie 5. So we've been working on parts of 4 even as we go along, mostly because we've got this young cast. We had to shoot them all while they were still young."
It was in 2019 when Disney announced Yeoh would be playing the role of Dr. Karina Mogue.
"We love Michelle," the filmmaker said. "She was always a movie star, but she's blown up into a huge, huge phenomenon. I look forward to working there."
Avatar is a 2009 epic science fiction film co-produced, co-edited, written, and directed by James Cameron. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. It is the first instalment in the Avatar film series. The second instalment, The Way of Water, was released on December 16, 2022
The yet-to-be-titled Avatar 4 will be released on December 21, 2029, with Avatar 5 scheduled for December 19, 2031.
On the next Avatar instalment, Cameron revealed at D23, "The characters are so alive, and it feels so real. It's also got very high emotional stakes -- more than ever before. We're going into really challenging territory for all the characters you know and love. The new film is not what you expect, but it's definitely what you want, " reported Deadline.
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