Zoe Saldana Excited to Reunite With 'Mentor' James Cameron on 'Avatar 2'

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 star Zoe Saldana dished to Yahoo Movies about returning to another huge sci-fi franchise. No, not Star Trek — the other one. That’s right, the perennially delayed Avatar 2.

“We’re gonna start rehearsals first week of June,” she says. “We’re gonna have table readings first week of June, so I’m excited that we’re finally here.”

She’s planning to take her kids to Pandora — The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park in Orlando. The brand-new 12-acre theme park is based on the fantastical sights and sounds of the planet on which Avatar is set, and boasts lifelike animatronic versions of the Na’vi, like her heroine, Neytiri.

Zoe Saldana poses at the premiere of <em>Live by Night</em> at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Jan. 9 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Zoe Saldana poses at the premiere of Live by Night at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Jan. 9 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Saldana is especially excited to get to work with writer-director James Cameron again. “I’m gonna get to work with James Cameron, who I’ve missed for so long. So I can’t wait to be under his mentorship again because he has been the best role model and the best mentor in the business for me.”

The road for Avatar 2, the sequel to the biggest movie of all time, has been unusually prolonged. As Fox chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos said in 2016, “James Cameron has his own pace.” Cameron did take 12 years after previous global record holder Titanic to drop Avatar. Between those two films, the director has generated $4.9 billion in global box office for the studio, so it’s not too surprising that Saldana — and Fox — have been happy to wait patiently.

Zoe Saldana makes a killer return in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — here’s director James Gunn on creating meaningful female roles in his blockbuster space opera:

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