James Cameron wants to 'pass the baton' for final ‘Avatar’ films
Is James Cameron ready to step down from helming the Avatar films in the future?
In a new interview with the British film magazine Empire, the award-winning Canadian Filmmaker admitted that he found Avatar films “all-consuming.”
The Avatar director told Empire on July 4 that he has other projects he wishes to pursue besides the epic saga.
Thanks to @JonLandau for the photos: pic.twitter.com/ilNXmZoWhf
— James Cameron (@JimCameron) May 7, 2019
“I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting. I think eventually over time – I don’t know if that’s after three or after four – I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know,” he told Empire.
With Cameron’s promise of creating his vision of a four-film saga on the planet Pandora, he is sure that the upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water will be followed by a third installment slated to be released in December 2024 as it was filmed back-to-back with Avatar 2.
Check out the brand-new teaser poster for #Avatar: The Way of Water. Experience it only in theaters December 16, 2022. pic.twitter.com/S9zu2kirDM
— Avatar (@officialavatar) May 9, 2022
“Three is in the can so it’s coming out regardless. I really hope that we get to make four and five because it’s one big story, ultimately,” Cameron said, explaining that family, sustainability, climate, and the natural world will still be tackled in the upcoming films.
As Avatar 4 and 5 will also be filmed together as planned, Cameron revealed in an earlier interview with Empire that he had to think “long and hard” about making another Avatar film.
“When you’ve done something that’s been that transcendent in terms of success, do you really want to go try and do that again? There’s a lot of pressure on it. I thought about it for a good two years before we finally made a deal,” he told Empire last June 2.
Thirteen years after the launch of the original Avatar film, the second installment is set to focus on Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saltaña) biological Na’vi children Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss).
EXCLUSIVE IMAGE ALERT! 🌊
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) July 4, 2022
Meet Jake and Neytiri's brand new Na'vi family in #Avatar: The Way Of Water.
READ MORE: https://t.co/AGBP6eVoXY pic.twitter.com/CRnmS0d9Of
The British magazine also revealed that Sigourney Weaver will play Jake and Neytiri’s adoptive teenage daughter Kiri despite dying in the first film as a Dr. Grace Augustine, leader of the RDA’s Avatar program.
Sigourney Weaver as Kiri graces (😉) the subscriber-exclusive cover of @empiremagazine. Experience #AvatarTheWayOfWater only in theaters December 16th. pic.twitter.com/tuNG7kKwt4
— Avatar (@officialavatar) July 1, 2022
Finished filming back in 2020, Avatar: The Way of the Water, is slated for release in cinemas in the U.S. on December 16.
The Avatar sequel stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saltaña, together with Michelle Yeoh, Kate Winslet, Giovanni Ribisi, Sigourney Weaver, Oona Chaplin, Jemaine Clement, Stephen Lang, Chloe Coleman, Edie Falco, and Ardmore Cliff Curtis.
Empire’s Avatar: The Way Of Water issue, which features interviews with the cast and crew, and never-before-seen images from the movie, is set to be released on newsstands on Thursday, 7 July.
