‘Avatar’: James Cameron talks about passing the baton to another director for the next films in the saga

It seems unbelievable in the case of such a personal work. However, James Cameron has expressed his desire to “pass the baton” to another director for the fourth and fifth Avatar sequels. In 2009, the celebrated director took the original high-concept idea for life on Pandora and turned it into a visual masterpiece. The filmmaker worked extensively on the film while directing, writing, producing and co-editing it, and it went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time. ‘Avatar’ was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, of which it won three, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects..

After the success of the film, Cameron planned an epic new sequel of four more films set in Pandora, the first of which, ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’, will be released later this year, after a long wait of more than a decade. In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Cameron admitted: “The Avatar movies themselves are all-consuming.“.

‘The Way of Water’, its original title, will be followed by Avatar 3, which was shot consecutively with the next film that we will see next Christmas. Sooner rather than later, Avatar 4 and 5 will also hit production, however, Cameron is doubtful of his return as director, saying: “I’m also developing other things that are exciting. I think eventually I don’t know if after three or four, I’ll want to hand over the baton to a director I trust to take over, so I can go do other things that interest me as well. Or maybe not. I do not know“.

The director added, “Everything I need to say about family, sustainability, the weather, the natural world, the issues that are important to me in real life and in my film life, I can say on this canvas.” Avatar is essentially a story of self-discovery that absorbs themes of imperialism and deep ecology. It stars Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, and the upcoming sequel adds Kate Winslet as Ronal, among others.

Speaking of Avatar 4, Cameron revealed: “I got more excited as it went on. Movie four is a bomb. In fact, I hope to get to do it. But it depends on market forces. The third one is already shot so it will come out anyway. I really hope we can do a fourth and a fifth because it’s a great story, ultimately.“.

The second part is scheduled to arrive in the month of December, specifically on December 16, 2022.