In a piece of news which may please some and upset some, James Cameron has announced that he’ll be stepping away from the Avatar franchise. In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, the 67-year-old confirmed that he may not be in the director’s chair for the fourth and fifth Avatar movies. 

Unlike the second the third movie in the series, which were filmed at the same time, the third and fourth movie in the series are yet to go into production. Speaking about the all-consuming nature of the project, Cameron confirmed –

“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” 

Cameron’s response has opened a pandora’s box in terms of speculations and rumours on what other projects the legendary director wants to work on and also who’ll be helming the remaining Avatar sequels. This isn’t the first time Cameron has walked away from a successful franchise. Back in the late 90s, he dropped out of a third Terminator movie because of a rights issue (a story for another day). 

However, Cameron seems to be optimistic about how the remaining movies in the Avatar universe will be panning out, saying “Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherfucker,” he said. “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.”

For now, the second movie in the series called Avatar: The Way of Water is scheduled to hit theatres on December 16, 2022. While the third unnamed movie in the series is scheduled for a December 2024 release. 

( Image credits: 20th Century Fox, BRUCE GLIKAS/BRUCE GLIKAS/FILMMAGIC/GETTY )