Avatar star Stephen Lang confirms how his dead character is returning for the sequel

The long-awaited sequel to Avatar is set to hit our screens any day now.

It's over 10 years since we were introduced to the world of Pandora and the Na'vi's fight for survival against the invasion of a brutal army.

Those of you who have seen the original, which is virtually everyone, will know that the leader of said violent colonisers is Colonel Miles Quaritch, played by Stephen Lang.

Unfortunately for Quaritch, though, he didn't make out of the original alive, with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) killing him to save Jake (Sam Worthington).

But you may have spotted that he has somehow managed to make a return in Avatar: The Way of Water, with some fans spotting him in the trailer.

Speaking to Empire about the next instalment, Lang explained that his character's is not quite the same.

He said: "He's a genetically-engineered autonomous avatar. He has been downloaded with the mind, the emotions, and even more interestingly, possibly the spirit of Quaritch.

20th Century Studios

"Now, that's all pretty esoteric stuff. He comes with a full memory bank up until the time he actually undergoes the DNA transfer. So there are certain things that he doesn't have any memory of at all. He has no memory of his death."

He went on: "It's fair to say (it's the same Quaritch), but I think it's incomplete. If you think about it, in the original film, Quaritch was really a function.

"He was a colorful function – a personality-filled function, but he really was there to provide conflict.

"Now, he still has that function but I also think, just because of the depths of what Jim is exploring here, he's quite a bit more than that. We're seeing parts of him that we have not seen hitherto.

"That only makes sense because we don't want to be massaging the same territory over and over again. We need to go to new places and indeed he does."

20th Century Studios

But Quaritch's return isn't the only shocking revelation to come out of the new film.

The Motion Picture Association confirmed recently that the sequel will be rated PG-13, pointing to ‘partial nudity and strong language’.

It was also previously confirmed that The Way of Water has a whopping run-time of two hours and 40 minutes, with director David Cameron encouraging fans to take toilet breaks.

Avatar: The Way of Water is set to land in cinemas on 16 December.