In recent weeks, as James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash has crossed the billion-dollar gross mark at the box office at roughly the same pace as the prior two entries in the franchise did, it has become apparent that Avatar is still a massive franchise that brings people out to theaters in droves. Fascinatingly, this means that for the first time in decades, making more Avatar films would actually be the path of least resistance for Cameron. He spent all of the late ‘90s and early 2000s fighting tooth-and-nail to build new technology and create the first Avatar film, released in 2009. Then, as he began pushing forward with sequel plans, he was told time and again that no one wanted them.
Even after the second film, Avatar: The Way of Water, was released in 2022 and became one of the highest-grossing films of all time, people still questioned the validity of making more, skeptical that it was a one-off return. But now, Fire and Ash has roundly proven that people care about this as a series and clearly want to see more. Ironically though, that has Cameron feeling a bit disinterested. The filmmaker is no longer a young man, and has become quite reflective both in his recent work and interviews, saying he’s not sure he wants to spend his last years making exclusively the planned Avatar 4 and 5. If Cameron does step away to pursue other interests, there is one filmmaker who would be perfect to shepherd this saga moving forward: Robert Rodriguez.
From the outset of beginning work on an Avatar follow-up of any kind, Cameron had a multi-tiered approach in mind. He convened a writers’ room to collaborate with him and construct a core narrative for the franchise moving forward from the initial film. These plans would grow to include a total of four sequels, taking place over a period of decades. This means that despite Cameron saying he’s thinking about leaving the projects behind, these films are already fully written. Heck, Cameron has even admitted that he filmed the first act of Avatar 4 years ago, while filming the second and third film back-to-back.
Because of all of this, a new filmmaker stepping in would need to be one who is comfortable not only following Cameron and co.’s established plan, but also collaborating with Cameron in an effective and enriching way. This is precisely what makes Robert Rodriguez such an ideal fit. The two filmmakers have an immense amount of respect for one another, and already collaborated together on the 2019 film Alita: Battle Angel.
Alita was yet another long-gestating passion project for Cameron, which he eventually realized he wasn’t going to have time to see through to fruition himself. Instead, he tapped Rodriguez to take over directing duties, resulting in a film that both filmmakers were enormously proud of. So much so, that they have forged a “blood oath” to make a sequel together. Compare this to Cameron’s collaborations with other filmmakers, such as Tim Miller on Terminator: Dark Fate, which was infamously fraught and resulted in a much weaker film as a result.
To this end, Rodriguez is an incredibly talented filmmaker who would bring his own unique visual verve and vernacular to the Avatar franchise, while still very much playing inside the sandbox that James Cameron has cultivated. For me personally, a key element of the whole appeal of the Avatar films is getting to see Big Jim Cameron just go absolutely bonkers gonzo with it, so I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be a twinge disappointed to see him step away. However, if he does so to pursue other projects, Robert Rodriguez stepping in would be the best possible scenario, giving audiences the best of both worlds.