lacks a legacy." In 2022, in response to the trailer for Avatar's upcoming sequel and the film's re-release, journalists again questioned the cultural relevance of the film, particularly Patrick Ryan of USA Today, who said the film had "curiously left almost no pop-culture footprint". In contrast, Bilge Ebiri of Vulture called others' opinions that the film had left no cultural impact "narrow-minded" and said that the film still held up well. A detailed overview of the Avatar franchise was reported in The New York Times in December of that year. Sequels Two sequels to Avatar were confirmed after the success of the first film; this number was subsequently expanded to four. Their respective release dates were set as December 17, 2021, December 22, 2023, December 19, 2025, and December 17, 2027. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the four sequels' releases were delayed a year to December 16, 2022, December 20, 2024, December 18, 2026, and December 22, 2028. Cameron is directing, producing and co-writing all four; Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Shane Salerno all took a part in the writing process of all of the sequels before being assigned to finish the separate scripts, making the eventual writing credits for each film unclear. Filming for the first two sequels began in September 2017. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, and CCH Pounder are all reprising their roles, as are Stephen Lang and Matt Gerald, despite the deaths of their characters in the first film. Sigourney Weaver is also returning, but as a new character, which was revealed to be Kiri, Jake and Neytiri's adoptive teenage daughter. New cast members include Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet as members of the Na'vi reef people of Metkayina and Oona Chaplin as Varang, a "strong and vibrant central character who spans the entire saga of the sequels". Seven child actors will also portray pivotal new characters through the sequels: Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, and Trinity Bliss as Jake and Neytiri's children, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, and Duane Evans Jr. as free-divers of the Metkayina, and Jack Champion as a Javier "Spider" Socorro, a teenage human adopted by Jake and Neytiri. Although the first two sequels have been greenlit, Cameron stated in an interview on November 26, 2017, "Let's face it, if Avatar 2 and 3 don't make enough money, there's not going to be a 4 and