James Cameron may not direct the fourth and fifth Avatar films, the filmmaker revealed in an interview with Empire.

After Avatar became the highest-grossing film of all time in 2009, Cameron envisioned a four-film epic saga to be set in the same universe – the first of these, a whole thirteen years after the original, is due to release this December and is titled Avatar: The Way Of Water. This and the still-untitled third film were shot back-to-back, with the latter heading to cinemas in December 2024.

Down the line, Avatar 4 and 5 will head to production together in another back-to-back filming effort… but Cameron isn’t confident he’ll be the one directing them.

“The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming,” James Cameron admits in the interview. “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.”

Considering how long production took for Avatar 2 and 3, no one could blame the legendary director for wanting a change from Pandora’s scenery.

Still, Cameron still sounds excited about the direction the later movies might take. “Everything I need to say about family, about sustainability, about climate, about the natural world, the themes that are important to me in real life and in my cinematic life, I can say on this canvas. I got more excited as I went along. Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherfucker. I actually hope I get to make it. But it depends on market forces. 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.”

Avatar: The Way Of Water releases in cinemas from December 16th, 2022.

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