At the end of 2025, James Cameron returned to the expansive world of Pandora with the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third movie in his massive sci-fi franchise. While the threequel did not reach the same box office milestones as its predecessors (which are two of the three highest-grossing films in history), it still grossed nearly $1.49 billion at the box office, good for the third-best numbers of 2025 behind Ne Zha 2 and Zootopia 2. However, as Cameron fans know all too well, the director has spoken often about plans for this saga to consist of five movies, which will take about another half-decade to accomplish.
Cameron is currently in production on Avatar 4, which has not had its official title revealed as of writing. The sequel is not set to be released in theaters until late 2029, but concerns are already being raised about whether the film can be made on a smaller budget than the original trilogy, which were reportedly made on budgets ranging from over $230 million to nearly $450 million. However, as production gets going on the newest chapter in this saga, the main focus for the time being is how the story will evolve into its next stages.
Speaking with The Direct at the Saturn Awards, Avatar 4 star Trinity Jo-Li Bliss shared an update on production for James Cameron’s Avatar 4. Revealing that the first part of it has been filmed, she also teased “an epic time jump” that will “really expand this story” for both the characters and the “ecosystems of Pandora,” having barely “touched the tip of the iceberg for what we know about this world:”
“We filmed a first little section of it, and that’s before this epic time jump, which is gonna really expand this story from the charcters’ plans, exosystems of Pandora, and it’s like…We barely touched the tip of the iceberg for what we know about this world and these characters and how deep they go.”
Bliss also touched on Cameron’s master plan for a five-movie franchise, reflecting on how the second and third movie were “made in mind” with the next two Avatar films. Calling it “a whole story” that she hopes can be finished, she teased that the next two films are “a whole next chapter” on their own:
“Sometimes, I feel kept on my toes. But yes, I do know how many we have. I guess that’s the cool thing, because ‘The Way of Water’ and ‘Fire and Ash’ were made with ‘[Avatar] 4’ and ‘5,’ and it’s a whole story that I just hope we get to finish, because ‘The Way of Water and ‘Fire and Ash’ are basically one story, and ‘4’ and ‘5’ are going to be a whole ‘nother thing, a whole next chapter.”
Asked about her reaction to the reception for these movies, she noted that it has “been really cool,” reflecting on the press tour being “actually kind of emotional” as she met fans from all over the world:
“Oh my gosh. It’s been really cool. I guess I could say it’s been really fire since ‘Fire and Ash.’ But yeah, I think it was actually kind of emotional on the press tour, getting to meet so many fans in Italy, in Paris, in L.A., and also just see virtually everybody experiencing this beautiful film together. I think seeing them get so into it, cosplaying and telling us all of their thoughts with contagious affection…it was really out of this world.”
Cameron already took the Avatar story forward by a long time after the first movie, with 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water set over 15 years after the events of the original 2009 film. Then, 2025’s Avatar: Fire and Ash started almost immediately after the second movie ended, setting the stage for this narrative to move even further into the future for the fourth movie.
Cameron previously confirmed that Avatar 4 will take place about eight years after its predecessor, which will make Bliss’s Tuk a teenager by the time she returns to action. Considering she is the youngest Sully child, the story is sure to take a much more adult turn in Pandora’s return to the big screen, leaving specific storylines for her and the rest of her family still in question.
Avatar 4 is set to debut in theaters on Dec. 21, 2029.
- Release Date
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December 21, 2029
- Producers
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Jon Landau
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
