James Cameron is expanding “Avatar” into a franchise that will ultimately not be just his own playground. While he already shot “Avatar 3” (theatrical release: 2024) after “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” and wants to make “Avatar 4” (2026) and “Avatar 5” (2028) by himself, does he want to hand over the franchise to someone else. Similar to George Lucas for the ‘Star Wars’ saga, who personally influenced Cameron, he also has the idea that at some point many other creative people will be able to let off steam in his world, namely Pandora’s. A series is obvious – there are now enough “Star Wars” like “Andor” or “The Mandalorian”.
James Cameron and his producer Jon Landau revealed in interviews that they were also thinking of series themselves. Landau gave it – van when asked about the many Disney brands that are now also series on Disney+ – given that it’s actually better to be a trendsetter than to follow a trend, but also explained: “We see the world of Pandora as a world that can be expanded beyond movies.”
By the way, this has already been done with comics. The comic series “The High Ground”, which is now appearing little by little, tells the events between the two previous cinema films.
» “Avatar: The High Ground” on Amazon: “Part 1“* / “Part 2“* / “volume 3“*/ complete edition*
James Cameron: Technology still prevents an “Avatar” series
According to James Cameron, there is still a problem at the moment and therefore an “Avatar” series is still a bit in the future. The technology used to create photo-realistic computer images is too slow. The computers need more than a year to calculate the images. That doesn’t fit into the production cycle of TV projects. After all, they have to be broadcast soon after production. In the case of a classic TV production by the major American network broadcasters, broadcast and production usually take place simultaneously. While the first episodes are airing, the next ones are in the works, filming is usually just a few episodes ahead of airing.
Cameron believes technology will improve so that an “Avatar” series can also be produced. He thinks this will take “at least five years, maybe even ten years”. After that he was very open to a series: “If ‘Avatar’ becomes the universe, if it becomes an established world for humanity and the desire for it is there – yes, I see that will happen at some point”he explains to a series. But at the same time, he makes it clear that it’s up to his films to anchor the “Avatar” franchise as a solid world in which more can happen in the future, in which the audience also wants to see more.
Cameron is not quite right: the classic model is outdated
And perhaps this will happen in a little more than five years, when the current saga will find its preliminary conclusion in the cinema with “Avatar 5”. Finally, Cameron’s concerns about the classic TV production cycle and the speed of technology are understandable, but are no longer entirely current. Even though the classic network TV of the major American broadcasters works this way, not only providers of pay TV such as HBO, but especially the streaming services have long since broken through.
» “Avatar” on Disney+*
Here it is not only customary to produce a whole season ahead at once, but you can also wait. Disney+ is currently proving this, which would also be the logical home for an “Avatar” series. With “Andor” those responsible have more than half a year to shoot and then another good year for post-production, which is based more on the usual production cycle of a cinema film than that of a series.
First of all, as I said, the world of Pandora continues exclusively in the cinema. “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” is currently running very successfully there.