James Cameron Compares Avatar Sequels To Episodic Television

Avatar: The Way of Water has received praise for delivering a true cinematic experience. Given that, it might surprise some fans to hear director James Cameron compare the Avatar sequels to television. Cameron is overseeing the production of four Avatar sequels, directing the first two himself, sometimes simultaneously. That may seem like a daunting task but speaking to The Wrap, Cameron explains that it makes sense because the Avatar series is one big story progressing through each new film, though each film also tells a complete story. "It's one big story," Cameron added. "It's really one big story, but it's like episodic television. Each one has its own proximal resolution. The character problems continue across the cut."

Cameron also tells The Wrap that Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are already written and designed. They should be ready to go once work finishes on Avatar 3.

"I think the thing people should remember here is we were gone for a long time from the marketplace," Cameron says. "But part of that was that we were putting into a pipeline five movies. I mean one that we've already done, four new films and shooting two movies back-to-back – Movie 2, Movie 3, part of Movie 4, and that has to do with sort of a story point and a big time jump that takes place. Because we wanna shoot out the kids cause they were aging so quickly. [Avatar 4] is fully written and fully designed, [Avatar 5] is fully written and fully designed. These movies exist in our minds. These stories exist."

He continues, "We know exactly what we're doing. We know what these movies are gonna be. We just have to go through the process of getting them done. So ideally two years from now, [Avatar 3] comes out, ideally maybe three years after that [Avatar 4] comes out, and then ideally maybe a couple years after that [Avatar 5] comes out. So we won't be away from the marketplace, so we'll have that sense of a persistent world, an ongoing story that I think people want. If they're gonna invest in these characters, if they're gonna invest in this world, we want to give it to them at a regular cadence. That was the game plan. And that's why one of the reasons we were gone so long."

Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters. It's headed towards an impressive New Year's weekend at the box office.