James Cameron is about to turn 71 years old, but he might be the busiest he’s ever been in his life.
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind iconic works such as The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic has filled his days over the last two decades with a single, monumental work: the Avatar franchise. Cameron famously began working on the first film in the series shortly after Titanic’s release, and continued to work on it and refine the innovative technology behind it all the way up to its release in 2009.
Following the record-breaking blockbuster success of that film, Cameron set forth on crafting a follow-up that would ultimately transform into a complex, multi-part series of sequels.
This plan led to all of the second and third films, Avatar: The Way of Water and the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, filmed concurrently. However, the planned fourth and fifth films in the series were left mostly unfilmed, casting some doubt on not only whether or not they would happen, but also whether or not Cameron would actually direct them.
In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, when asked about directing future Avatar films, he said, “I mean, there’s no reason not to. I’m healthy, I’m good to go. I’m not going to rule it out. I mean, I’ve got to make it in a vigorous way, to handle the kind of volume and energy of the work for another six or seven years. I might not be able to do that… but if I can, I’ll just do it.”
Essentially, what Cameron is saying here is that yes, he’s planning on helming the fourth and fifth films. Should health concerns ultimately intervene, given the sheer amount of work necessary to complete such a monumental task, he admits that it would probably sideline him.
However, throughout his career, Cameron has rarely set his mind to something and not delivered 100% on it. As such, expect him to be behind the lens once more for the future sequels.
When it was finally released in 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water became another record-shattering phenomenon, so of course, Disney quickly became eager to move forward with all of the proposed sequels. However, the visionary filmmaker himself said that the third film might’ve been the end of the road for him as a director, at the time.
During press for The Way of Water, Cameron referred to the franchise as “all consuming” and spoke about “passing the baton” for the latter sequels in a conversation with Empire Magazine. He even mentioned a potential filmmaker, referencing his extremely positive experience with Robert Rodriguez on Alita: Battle Angel. That film was one that Cameron wrote and produced, but handed off the directing reins to Rodriguez, yet Cameron remained incredibly happy with the final film. “He honored what I had written, we worked very collaboratively,” he said.
However, now, potentially at the end of the Avatar path he had laid out for himself with Fire and Ash completed, Cameron has changed his tune
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