The long wait for the first Avatar sequel comes to an end imminently, when Avatar: The Way of Water splashes onto screens on December 16, 13 years after we first landed on the moon of Pandora.
In interviews, director James Cameron has revealed that plans for the third, fourth, and fifth films are mapped out, and that there are ideas for the sixth and seventh, should the franchise make it that far. Cameron has previously spoken about the importance of keeping the story contained to Pandora, the Alpha Centauri-located moon on which Avatar is set, but in an exclusive interview with Fandom, the director has revealed that in the fifth film, the action will transfer to Earth.
Moving the Action to Earth
Responding to a fan poll on the Avatar wiki, posted by community member MrHut, which asked users if they’d want to see a war against the nefarious organization, the Resources Development Administration (RDA), on Earth, Cameron revealed: “Well, just because it’s you guys, and you are fans, I will say that in one of the upcoming films, not immediately next, not three, [but] actually by five, you will see action on Earth … because don’t we want to juxtapose this verdant, incredible world in its prime with an Earth a couple of hundred years from now that is the result of us if we don’t change? You want to see that contrast, right?”
Asked how the Na’vi would cope on Earth, Cameron teased, “Well, don’t you just want to see that? I certainly do.”
Avatar producer and long-time collaborator of Cameron, Jon Landau, confirmed and expanded on Cameron’s comments.
“In movie five, the idea is that we would go to Pandora, and we’d return to Earth, but show the juxtaposition,” he said. “And just like we have something to learn from Pandora, Neytiri‘s character has something to learn from the people of Earth too. The people of Earth who killed her family, the people of Earth who destroyed her home. It’s about seeking out and seeing different people. We have this expression [in Avatar] — ‘Oel ngati kameie’ [meaning] ‘I see you’ — and it’s her opportunity to see people on Earth.”
How Will the Na’vi Cope With the Earth Environment?
In answer to the question of how the Na’vi would cope with the environment and the culture of Earth, Landau added, “Well, I think the culture that’s part of our narrative storytelling, I think that’s for audiences to see when we set up that dilemma. But just like we show humans breathing, whether it’s with masks or breathing devices, we’ve set up a conceit for how that works already: when the avatars or the recoms go into the human environment, and they need the masks to breathe air, and then they could breathe air for a certain period of time, and then they need it again, it will be that same type of situation.”
We don’t yet know whether Cameron and Landau will definitely get the chance to make the fifth movie since everything is dependent on box office success but on the basis of what they’ve laid out here, it’s safe to say that it’s something that many Avatar fans will want to see.
Check out our full interviews with James Cameron, Jon Landau and the cast of Avatar: The Way of Water below.