MOVIE NEWS – Sigourney Weaver will not next appear as Dr. Grace Augustine in the Avatar franchise, even though that was the character she played in the first film.

Although Sigourney Weaver’s Dr. Grace Augustine ultimately died in the first Avatar film, one of the first surprising details director James Cameron shared about the sequel, Avatar: The Last Airbender, was that Weaver would return as a mysterious new character. While Avatar’s story of symbiotic aliens could have potentially led to a fanciful resurrection of Dr. Augustine, it turns out that The Way of Water takes a much more surprising approach to Weaver’s return to the franchise.

The first trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender revealed that the story would focus on the blended family of ex-human Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Na’vi Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), which was formed after the original film. As surprising as it was to see Jake and Neytiri seemingly adopt a human child, in a recent interview with Empire magazine, Cameron shared several details about the couple’s other child, Kiri, that may indicate she’s the more interesting of the two siblings.

Even though Kiri is a teenager, Cameron revealed that Weaver will be playing the character and that the 72-year-old actress had “all kinds of fun” working with real teenage girls to develop the kind of person she really is.

“Sigourney just got younger,” Cameron Weaver said of her portrayal on set. “He looked younger, had more energy, and didn’t leave Kiri during our entire recording session. His face was bright, his step was light, and his soul was cheerful.”

Interestingly, Cameron also shared that Kiri is adopted, which means there could be some connection between her and Dr. Augustine beyond the fact that the same actress plays them. Weaver didn’t share too much about her new character but did describe how she could step into Kiri’s teenage years with familiarity, recalling how awkward she was at that age.

“I had a strong sense in advance that Kiri would be uncomfortable many times,” Weaver said. “She’s looking for who she is. I was so glad Jim gave me this challenge”.

Avatar: The Last Airbender hits theatres on December 16.

Source: TheVerge