"Avatar 2" and its sequels have been pushed back, further pushing them away from the first film, which launched back in 2009. Actor Stephen Lang recently sat down for an interview with Ain't It Cool News to discuss why the films are taking so long and what fans could expect when they finally hit theaters.

"Yeah, the reading of things. We're getting there. We're in good shape. We'll be starting certainly early in the new year. But you know, the thing is, as you can imagine with a fil'Avatar,' it's not like the work hasn't been going on. The design, the production design, the various worlds, and creatures and environments, that's all being worked on," he explained.

Lang continued to state that work on the sequel had begun as far back as 2009 when the first film released and become a phenomenon. To this date "Avatar" is still the highest earning film of all time and it was also the film that pioneered the modern day 3D technology that is still being used in films.

The actor continued to explain that while development on the script has taken a long while, as director James Cameron works on perfecting the story he wants to tell, it is more clear that the delays are mostly due to the fact that the technology to achieve what Cameron wants done just don't exist.

Because of this Cameron and his group of engineers have had to set things aside in order to develop the technology needed in order to film "Avatar 2" to "Avatar 5" in exactly the way he wants them. In a previous report it was revealed Cameron had been working on perfecting filming 3D even when submerged underwater.

"Avatar 2" is set to launch in late 2018 with "Avatar 3" following in 2020. "Avatar 4" and "Avatar 5" will be released back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, respectively.