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Stephen Lang will be the main villain for the entire "Avatar" sequels, James Cameron has confirmed. In an interview with Empire magazine for its September issue, the famed filmmaker says that Lang's Colonel Quaritch will be the "same motherf**ker through all four movies."

It's unclear how Quaritch will return for the next "Avatar" movies as he's presumed dead after taking a couple of massive arrows to the chest at the end of the first film. The character caused quite a bit of trouble for Jake (Sam Worthington) and the Na'vi in the 2009 blockbuster, and that dynamic will carry over into the next four movies.

"The interesting conceit of the 'Avatar' sequels is it's pretty much the same characters," Cameron explains to the mag. "There are new characters and a lot of new settings and creatures, so I'm taking characters you know and putting them in unfamiliar places and moving them on this greater journey."

"But it's not a whole bunch of new characters every time," he adds. "There's not a new villain every time, which is interesting. Same guy. Same motherf**er through all four movies. He is so good and he just gets better. I know Stephen Lang is gonna knock this out of the park."

In the interview, Cameron also talks about the challenge in filming four films at once, a scheduling situation Lang himself described as "a Mongolian clusterf**ker." Citing Peter Jackson and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy as his inspiration for doing it this way, Cameron notes that "it's one big story."

"Avatar 2" will be released in theaters across the nation on December 18, 2020, followed by "Avatar 3" on December 17, 2021, "Avatar 4" on December 20, 2024 and "Avatar 5" on December 19, 2025. "Game of Thrones" alum Oona Chaplin and former "Fear the Walking Dead" lead star Cliff Curtis have joined the cast that also sees the return of Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver.