Zoë Saldana and Sam Worthington will reprise their Avatar roles as Neytiri and Jake Sully respectively in three sequels to the 2009 film.

Director James Cameron is making the sequels back-to-back-to-back, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The second Avatar movie will hit theaters in December 2016, the third following in December 2017 and the fourth in December 2018.

Plot details for the upcoming films are been keep a secret for the most part but THR learned that Jake Sully and Neytiri have kids.

"Jake Sully is a rare combination of passion, strength, street smarts and soul, which requires a lot from an actor. Sam brought to the role a combination of sensitivity, vulnerability and strength," Cameron said. "Zoë captured every aspect of the character I envisioned, bringing to Neytiri a mix of delicacy, fierceness and incredible physicality. I am beyond pleased they'll be returning with us to Pandora."

The first actor who signed on for all three new movies was Stephen Lang, who played the ruthless Marine Colonel Quaritch in the 2009 film. His character died so it is assumed that Cameron will resurrect him somehow.

Cameron and Jon Landau will produce the films through Lightstorm Entertainment. Cameron last August enlisted a team of writers to help him with the screenplay: Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds), duo Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Shane Salerno (Savages).

The original sci-fi film earned nine Academy Award nominations and won three. It is the highest-grossing film at the box office of all time. Disney's Animal Kingdom recently began construction on a Avatar-themed attraction scheduled to open in 2017. 

Saldana, 35, next appears in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and was recently cast in NBC's Rosemary's Baby miniseries. Worthington, 37, can seen in the 2014 action movie Sabotage.

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