Featured Image Credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images / 20th Century Studios
Topics: James Cameron, Film and TV
Yasmeen Hamadeh
Topics: James Cameron, Film and TV
There's no denying that Avatar is James Cameron's baby - and there's only one thing that would make him hand over the reins on future sequels.
The esteemed director broke records with the release of the first Avatar film in 2009 where it went on to become the first ever film to gross $2 billion at the box office and introduced us to the planet of Pandora.
More than a decade later, Cameron returned with Avatar: The Way of Water and just when it seemed that he couldn't out-do himself — he did, by an absolute landslide.
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Now, the director is set to continue the franchise with an Avatar 3, 4, and 5. While the third Avatar film, officially titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, is currently in post-production with Cameron at the helm, previous reports claimed that the director would not be returning for the fourth and fifth films.
In fact it was Cameron himself who said he probably wouldn't be returning. Speaking to Empire magazine in 2022, the director shared: "The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming.
"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."
Well, it now seems that the director has had a change of heart and claims only the Grim Reaper himself could stop him from making any more Avatar films.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview, Cameron clarified that he will be returning for all future Avatar films sharing: "They're going to have to stop me. I got plenty of energy, love doing what I'm doing. Why would I not?
"And [Avatar 4 and 5] are written by the way," he added. "I just reread both of them about a month ago. They're cracking stories. They've got to get made.
"Look, if I get hit by a bus and I'm in an iron lung, somebody else is going to do it."
You can all take a sigh of relief now, folks.
While little is known about the plot of Avatar: Fire and Ash so far, Cameron made an appearance at Disney's D23 expo on Friday (August 9) where he unveiled the film's title and confirmed that fans are in for a spectacle.
"The new film is not what you expect, but it's definitely what you want," Cameron told the audience at D23. "We're going into really challenging territory for the characters."