‘Avatar’ Sequels’ Massive Scale Teased by James Cameron, Stephen Lang Reveals His Return
Avatar: The Way of Water director James Cameron spoke to Empire Magazine as part of their cover story in the August 2022 issue about his big ambitions when he pitched a four-movie arc to Fox.
Here‘s what he said regarding the scope:
“What I said to the Fox regime at the time was, ‘I’ll do it, but we’ve got to play a larger game here. I don’t want to just do a movie and do a movie and do a movie. I want to tell a bigger story’. I said, ‘Imagine a series of novels like The Lord Of The Rings existed, and we’re adapting them.’ Now, that was great in theory, but then I had to go create the frickin’ novels from which to adapt it.”
Cameron also revealed that he was a bit apprehensive when Fox wanted to make more movies, saying:
“I had to think long and hard whether I even wanted to make another Avatar film, because it was kind of ours to lose. When you’ve done something that’s been that transcendent in terms of success, do you really want to go try and do that again? There’s a lot of pressure on it. I thought about it for a good two years before we finally made a deal.”
So far, the very few things we’ve seen from the first Avatar sequel, coming this December, have been at least worth the wait. Last week, Empire revealed that Sigourney Weaver, who was 70 when filming, will be playing Jake and Neytiri’s teenage adoptive Na’vi daughter. They also showed a picture of Weaver’s character, Kimi, showing some of the best de-aging work to date (since it’s an alien species, it’s probably not fair to compare it to what they did on The Mandalorian or Ant-Man, but it’s still very impressive). The teaser trailer that premiered in theaters early May already showcased some impressive visuals from the movie, and showed us what Cameron and the VFX geniuses he works with have been creating for years — the first performance capture work shot underwater.
Still, and even though he already shot both Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, Cameron revealed that he’s not sure if he’ll be returning to direct the two installments after that. He said:
“The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming. I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting. 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.”
Obviously, it seems like nothing is set in stone, and we’ll believe this when we see it. Avatar and Pandora are Cameron’s baby, and as Empire says, he is very excited about where the story is going in the sequels. He went on to explain why it feels so personal to him:
“Everything I need to say about family, about sustainability, about climate, about the natural world, the themes that are important to me in real life and in my cinematic life, I can say on this canvas. I got more excited as I went along. Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherfucker. I actually hope I get to make it. But it depends on market forces. Three is in the can so it’s coming out regardless. I really hope that we get to make four and five because it’s one big story, ultimately.”
The first sequel, which could drop a second trailer in the next few weeks, will bring back Stephen Lang’s character. Even though he died in 2009’s Avatar, Miles Quaritch had his consciousness transferred to an avatar body. Lang told Empire the following about his role:
“He’s bigger, he’s bluer, he’s pissed off. But there may possibly be an aspect of humility. When you take two Na’vi arrows in the chest, that’s gonna have some kind of effect on you.
[He] was always a character who moved in straight lines and at right angles. But now he is as lithe as they come. He can move with the same kind of cunning and feral quality that any of the Na’vi can.”
In The Way of Water, his military organization, the Resources Development Administration (RDA), added a lot of Recombinants (Recoms), that is, avatars embedded with the memories of human soldiers. Producer Jon Landau teased that they are back for blood, as well as the lands they lost:
“They are combing back with an armada to take back the prized possession that they lost.”
More content from Avatar: The Way of Water will be coming out all week. New footage could drop this month too, as Disney plans one of its biggest marketing campaigns ever with this movie. The original crawled back to the #1 movie of all time at the box office when it was re-released in China during the pandemic, and Disney is going to make sure none of us forget about that. Stay tuned!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
