It seemed the day would never come. It's been 13 years since James Cameron's Avatar hit theaters and somehow broke every box office record on the planet. Though, the biggest intrigue was the way the film utilized 3D cinema to bring audiences into the world of Pandora (the setting of the film), but the story still managed to fall under fire for storyline that felt derivative of similar ecologically-themed films such as Dances with Wolves or FernGully. Cameron admits to taking in this criticism which might partially explain the 13 year wait for the first sequel.
Assembling a writing room composed of Cameron, Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Shane Salerno, all took part in the writing process of all sequels before being attributed separate scripts. It's unclear who helped write which film though it's confirmed Friedman is credited as co-writer with Cameron for the first sequel. A sequel that was shot consecutively with the third film. Cameron is not naïve. He knows there is a strong chance the sequel will not be as successful and has said each sequel ends with a conclusive nature in case.
With that, after 13 years, the first photos for the immediate sequel Avatar: The Way of Water have been released, courtesy of the Twitter account for T2BLive.COM, a site known for Tollywood and Bollywood news. But the photos are genuine and, as has been teased for years, sees the characters primarily exploring the oceans of Pandora. It's set to be the primary setting, backed up by the fact that the entire cast was instructed in free-diving for the film with new co-star Kate Winslet having broken a record for longest scene shot underwater. Check them out below:
Avatar: The Way of Water sees the return of actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald. Sigourney Weaver, who played Dr. Grace Augustine in the original film, will be returning in a different role. Along with Winslet, new cast members include Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones. It is currently planned for a release on December 16th, 2022, with the following three sequels to be released, respectively, on December 20th, 2024, December 18th, 2026 and December 22nd, 2028.