Credit: DisneyAfter being hit by both the pandemic and the now-resolved WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, production is finally set to resume on James Cameron’s Avatar threequel — and according to a recent update from star Sam Worthington, it sounds like fans are in for a wild ride.
Related: ‘Avatar’ Star Shares Update on Fate of ‘Avatar 4′
Director James Cameron flipped the sci-fi genre on its head when his ambitious blockbuster, Avatar, premiered in theaters on December 18, 2009. The movie indisputably changed the entertainment industry forever, with filmmakers rushing to cash in on the 3D craze the awe-inspiring world of Pandora inspired, dazzling audiences with its advanced technology — all resulting in a historic box office haul of $2.923 billion worldwide.
The first Avatar installment has had a lasting impact on pop culture, and unsurprisingly, its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), followed suit, once again pushing the boundaries of conventional filmmaking a whopping 13 years later. Most of its cast, including Sam Worthington (Jake Sully), Zoe Saldana (Neytiri), Stephen Lang (Colonel Miles Quaritch), and Sigourney Weaver (Kiri/Dr. Grace Augustine), reprised their roles for the movie, along with newcomers like Kate Winslet (Ronal).
Related: ‘Avatar 3’ Release Date Confirmed by James Cameron After Huge Delays
Since then, James Cameron has revealed more information about the future of his Avatar franchise, and from the sounds of it, he’s just getting started. In fact, the series will consist of five movies and is tentatively set to conclude with Avatar 5 in December 2031. For now, however, our next foray into the world of Pandora will be via the still-untitled Avatar 3, which just received an exciting update after it was delayed by Disney by a full year to 2025.
Speaking with People earlier this month, Sam Worthington confirmed that filming on the Avatar threequel will begin very soon. The Jake Sully actor promised some big things for the next entry in the beloved sci-fi saga, saying, “We go back to work on it in a month, and it’s big. It’s bigger than you can imagine.”
Worthington’s remarks seem to align with an update Cameron offered in November, where he assured fans that Avatar 3 is still on track for a Christmas 2025 premiere following a postponement from the initial release window of Christmas 2024. And with the entire Avatar team gearing up to return to set in February, a holiday 2025 arrival certainly seems likely.
Until then, leave it to James Cameron to stay looking to the future. While discussing the challenging filming process for The Way of Water during the same People profile, he revealed that he “even did part of movie four” because the young characters are “all going to have a big time jump in movie four.” Touching on the fourth Avatar film, which is currently set to hit theaters in 2029, he added, “We see them, and then we go away for six years, and we come back. And so the part where we come back is the part we haven’t shot yet. So we’ll start on that after three is released.”
For now, Avatar fans can sleep well knowing that production on Avatar 3 appears to be right on track for its Christmas 2025 release window. Based on Cameron’s remarks, it sounds like the future of the Avatar universe will center around the Sully children and the generations after them. With endless storylines and possibilities to explore, there are certainly some exciting things on the horizon as audiences gear up to return to Pandora next year.
What loose plot threads do you hope James Cameron will pick up on in Avatar 3 and beyond? Let us know in the comments below!