It might feel like we’ve been waiting for forever for new Avatar instalments, given that James Cameron has been promising them for years. But as the second, third and fourth films creep towards production, the co-writer/director has offered an update on their progress.
“I’m in the process of doing another pass through all three scripts right now,” Cameron tells Entertainment Weekly. “Just refining. That’s in parallel with the design process. The design process is very mature at this point. We’ve been designing for about a year and a half. All the characters, settings and creatures are all pretty much set.” The main work of the screenplays, of course, has been farmed out to a team that includes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno.
And Cameron doesn’t want to rest on his laurels when it comes to the ever-expanding Avatar universe. “No, you have to challenge yourself. Obviously, expectations are going to be very high on these films, especially on Avatar 2, to make sure it wasn’t just some big fluke the first time. So we’ve got to deliver. I’ve created a nice rod for my own back, so they say.”
The three new Avatar movies are gearing up to shoot concurrently and will (hopefully) start to arrive in cinemas from 2017.