James Cameron is running full steam ahead on theAvatarfranchise. Cameron filmedAvatar: The Way of WaterandAvatar 3back to back because he wanted to avoid something he called the “Stranger Thingseffect.”
Cameron’sAvatar: The Way of Wateris a continuation of 2009’sAvatar,a sci-fi tale about a marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who lands on an alien planet in an attempt to colonize it. ThoughAvatar: The Way of Watertook a long time to come out(13 years) future installments of the franchise will probably not have as long of a wait.Avatar 3has already been filmed.
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In a new interview withEntertainment Weekly, Cameron revealed that he had to shootAvatar: The Way of Water,Avatar 3, and the first act ofAvatar 4back to back for practical reasons: the child actors were growing too fast. “Otherwise, you get — and I loveStranger Things— but you get theStranger Thingseffect where they’re supposed to still be in high school [but] they look like they’re 27,” Cameron explained. “You know, I love the show. It’s okay, we’ll suspend disbelief. We like the characters, but, you know.”
Cameron also explained thateach movie would expand theAvatarlore. “Each movie is going to introduce audiences to new clans, new cultures on Pandora,” Cameron said. “Once we introduce a character, they stay a part of the ongoing evolution. We just add to it. So you may expect to see the Metkayina that you meet in this movie in subsequent movies. There are other clans that we’ll introduce in movie 3 that you’ll see in movie 4 and so on and so forth.”
Ironically,Sigourney Weaver went back to high schoolfor her role inAvatar: The Way of Water.Though she’s 73 in real life, Weaver plays Kiri, a character who’s about 14 or 15 years old, using motion capture technology. Weaver said it was a bit difficult getting into the role of a teenager again, but she found it an interesting challenge.
Though it hasn’t been filmed yet, comments from producer Jon Landau revealed thatAvatar 5will involve the Na’vi on Earth. That’ll be interesting to see on multiple levels, one of which involves Neytiri.Zoe Saldaña said Neytiri’s attitude towards humansis quite negative for understandable reasons. Landau’s comments specified that Neytiri would be on Earth in the fifth installment, and her prejudices would be challenged.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris now in theaters.
MORE:How Avatar: The Way of Water’s Ending Leads Into Avatar 3
