Avatar 3 Filming Update Teases Original Stars’ Returns

Avatar 3 gets a new filming update that teases the return of two original characters. After his first movie in 2009, director James Cameron returned to the world of Pandora with Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, continuing the story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his new family. The filmmaker is now hard at work on the upcoming Avatar 3, which is set to introduce new characters into the mix while bringing back a number of familiar faces.

Now, actor Joel David Moore, who played Norm Spellman in both previous films, confirms his return to New Zealand for more Avatar 3 filming in a recent social media post. Check out his post below:

Included in the first image in the carousel is actor Giovanni Ribisi, who is set to reprise his role as Parker Selfridge in the third movie. Another image also features Dileep Rao, who plays Dr. Max Patel. In a fun throwback, the final image in the carousel features Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Moore, and Michelle Rodriguez during production on the original film. Moore’s full caption is included below:

Heading back to Wellington NZ is always so nostalgic. Been coming here for 17 years making this franchise, seeing familiar faces, friends, putting the hard work in, it’s like a home away from home at this point. The family has grown, but the work flow and mission is always the same. Thankful for my
#Avatar
fam and can’t wait for you to see what’s next! (Last pic is a flashback of me Sig Sam M Rod and our amazing kiwi crew from 17 yrs ago) 🙏

How Parker Selfridge Could Factor Into Avatar 3

The RDA Mission On Pandora Continues

Selfridge serves as a secondary antagonist in the original Avatar, representing the greedy interests of the RDA as it mines unobtanium on Pandora. He remains alive at the end of the film and, in a new scene added for the sequel, is shown boarding a spaceship to leave the planet before hinting that the Na’vi struggle against the RDA isn’t over. Selfridge also returns as part of the Avatar: The Way of Water cast for a brief cameo at the beginning, but he is absent for most of the film.

Producer Jon Landau confirmed in March 2023 that Selfridge “will be back in force as we move forward,” setting the character up for a much bigger role as part of the cast of Avatar 3. While Selfridge seemingly returned to Earth for some time after the events of the original film, it seems as if he will rejoin the RDA efforts on Pandora. His goal in the original film was the mining of unobtanium, but the sequel introduces Amrita, a Tulkun-secreted substance that stops human aging. Collecting more of this substance could be his new goal in the sequel.

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That being said, it’s also possible that Selfridge has been demoted after his failures in the original movie, and he will be overseeing an operation of less value than the harvesting of Amrita. Either way, Selfridge could be used to further flesh out the RDA’s goals on Pandora, and a reunion with both Jake and Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is surely on the cards. Unfortunately, with the Avatar 3 release date still about a year and a half away, it will likely be some time before more concrete details are revealed.

Source: Joel David Moore

Avatar 3

Avatar 3 is the third entry in James Cameron’s five-movie franchise set in the fictional world of Pandora. Following Jake Sully and Neytiri’s first encounter in 2009’s Avatar and Colonel Miles Quaritch’s retaliation in 2022’s The Way of Water, Avatar 3 sees the Na’vi heroes come across a fire Na’vi tribe known as the Ash People.

Release Date

December 19, 2025

Studio(s)

20th Century

Distributor(s)

20th Century

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