The sequel to James Cameron’s history-making film, Avatar has been in the works for a long, long time but like with all major film production, it came to a halt due to the global lockdowns initiated because of the novel coronavirus pandemic which has led to innumerable deaths and the disruption in the already staggering global economy.

However, with New Zealand giving film and TV productions the go-ahead with their work, the team of Avatar is back to work.

Posting a picture of two boats on the Avatar 2 sets, producer Jon Landau wrote on Instagram that the team is planning to head back this week.

“Our #Avatar sets are ready—and we couldn’t be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week,” he wrote. “Check out the Matador, a high speed forward command vessel (bottom) and the Picador jetboat (top)—can’t wait to share more.”

“We’re in the midst of a global crisis, and this is not about the film industry,” Landau had told the NZ Herald in mid-March. “I think everybody needs to do now whatever we can do, as we say here, to flatten the [coronavirus] curve.” In the meantime, Cameron and his team have continued working on virtual production and visual effects in California.

That’s not all – with the NZ government’s go-ahead, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series will also be able to resume filming.