Deadline has confirmed that Fear the Walking Dead‘s Cliff Curtis is boarding all four of James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar sequels in a lead role. The New Zealand-born actor will play Tonowari, who is the leader of the Metkayina, the reef people clan (Cameron has said in interviews that the Avatar world in future installments will take place underwater).
Curtis joins returning cast members Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver. Production begins at Wellington’s Stone Street Studios next year.
The first of the four sequels is due for release on Dec. 18, 2020, with other sequels to follow during the Christmas season of 2021, 2024 and 2025. Avatar remains the highest grossing film at the worldwide box office with $2.79 billion.
Sources tell us that the Avatar production will work around Curtis’s production on Fear of the Walking Dead. On the AMC show, which returns June 4, the actor plays Travis Manawa.
One of Curtis’ first roles on the big screen was in Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning movie The Piano. Other features include Once Were Warriors, Training Day, Live Free or Die Hard, and The Last Airbender, and TV series Trauma, Gang Related and Missing.
Curtis is repped by WME, the Robert Bruce Agency, and JR Talent Group.
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