Stephen Lang will appear in Avatar 2

Sam Worthington will be joined on the Avatar sequels by a familiar face, with Variety reporting that Stephen Lang will return to the franchise.

Lang was on scene-stealingly excellent form in the first film as the fiendish Colonel Quaritch, although the character didn't make it out of that film alive, having been killed in a mech battle with Worthington's hero.

Clearly James Cameron feels that demise shouldn't prevent the character from making another appearance, and now fans can busy themselves speculating as to just how the character could be revived.

It's always possible of course that Lang will only appear in flashback, but given the franchise's sci-fi setting, there's no reason to think he won't be resurrected by some sort of futuristic gizmo…

Filming is set to begin on the sequels in October 2014, with Avatar 2 expected to arrive in cinemas in December 2016, before further episodes in 2017 and 2018.

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.