Thirteen years ago, Academy Award®-winner James Cameron introduced moviegoers to a world unlike any they’d ever seen with his breathtaking epic “Avatar.” Now, the visionary filmmaker is inviting audiences on a brand-new cinematic journey when 20th Century Studios’ “Avatar: The Way of Water” opens in movie theaters on Friday, December 16.

Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña reprise their iconic roles, playing Jake Sully and Neytiri. “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive,  and the tragedies they endure.

Entertainment Affair recently joined Cameron, Worthington, and Saldaña alongside producer Jon Landau, actors Steven Lang, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet at a virtual press conference to discuss the highly anticipated sequel. Check out a few highlights of the event below.

Director James Cameron explains where he wanted to take the story and characters

“I think it’s important for a sequel to honor what the audience loved about the experience the first time. But also to get them off-balance and do things that they don’t expect,” Cameron continued. “There are a lot of surprises in terms of where the story goes in this film that we’re not putting into the trailers and the TV spots and all that. You have to experience it. But it also goes a lot deeper, in terms of the heart and the emotions... I was inspired by the fact that both Zoe and Sam are parents, and I’m a parent of five. And so, we wanted to get into the family dynamics and the responsibilities of having kids, and also what that’s all like from the kids’ perspective.”

Sam Worthington & Zoe Saldana on coming back

“Jim gave me a script that was Avatar 1.5, that was amazing and detailed and full of what they’d gone through, over that gap. Jim realized that story was about them being warriors and taking on the battles of the clans. He wanted to explore what this family dynamic is and the natural extension of this love story. It gave us a good jumping-off point, to understand how to fill in that gap that’s missing. It was pretty amazing,” Worthington explained.

“When something is very similar to you, you can’t see it. It’s so close to you that it’s not in front of you. And Neytiri and I, in a way, have lived parallel lives. There’s a level of fearlessness and rebellion that I have, as a person, that Neytiri has, herself, and I was able to find kindred in that,” Saldaña added.

Kate Winslet on reuniting with Titanic director James Cameron

“With it being Jim, I expected the absolute best of everything,” Winslet said. “It’s precision, it’s thought through, it’s thorough, it’s meticulous. I think the thing that pulled me in most of all, above everything else, is the characters he’s created. Jim has always written—for women—characters who are not just strong but are leaders. They lead with their heart and with integrity. They stand in their truth. They own their power. They have physical power that is admirable. And to be part of that, to be included, it was just so flattering.”

Sigourney Weaver spoke about how she came back in a new role after her character died in the first film

“Luckily there is a connection, and when we first talked about it, it was 2010, and we just had this idea, a girl who was more comfortable in the forest with the creatures and the flora and the fauna. But I think, all power to Jim, he wanted to create a complex character. Wonderful things about her, but she also has some deficits. And so I loved that I had the opportunity to play someone I consider a real adolescent in most ways, and then she has these other bright spots that she’s learning about.”

“But I was very honored, too, and thrilled, excited, terrified. But luckily there was a long time to prepare, and I went to high school classes and a few other things, so I could hear the pitch of their voices, and there’s a big range of who an adolescent is between twelve and fifteen. And once I saw that, I was like, okay, I can let Kiri come out. Whoever that is, combined with who I was at fourteen.”

Stephen Lang is also back in the Avatar cast

“I was just so honoured to be able to deepen and expand on the vision that Jim had for this character. I think in the first film he’s very colourful, he’s got personality, he’s got some great qualities. But essentially he moves through like a mindless shark, in a way,” Lang said.

“But in this iteration of it, first of all there’s the absolutely magnificent irony that Jim has written of coming back as the very thing he has been trying to destroy. And having to make the adjustment to that, to adapt to that. …It was a total pleasure for me to continue to massage this character and find the depth, and maybe some of the humanity that’s in him.”

Producer Jon Landau talked about the themes of the film

“The excitement are the themes that Jim writes into his stories. Themes are what you leave the theatre with, and this movie has heart, has emotion, and it also has a message again about our world, not just the environment, about people, about accepting people for their differences. In the movie Jim wrote in the line, (Speaks Na’vi), ‘I see you.’ And we want people to know that they’re seen and that to see others that same way.”