James Cameron reveals huge time jump between Avatar 3 and 4

Avatar 3 is “right on track” for its release next year, James Cameron has revealed – and it’ll tee up a massive time jump in the fourth chapter.

In 2009, more than a decade after Titanic, Cameron became the box office king of the world again with Avatar. The game-changing blockbuster dominated cinemas for months and left audiences with a serious case of the post-Pandora blues.

It took him 13 years, but the director exceeded expectations with Avatar: The Way of Water, another box office behemoth that proved all of the naysayers wrong; how can a franchise with “no cultural impact” become such a phenomenon?

Now, the wait is on for the third and fourth movies (and potentially even more). Compared to the gap between the first two entries, there’s just two years to go – but the story is going to make a huge leap in Avatar 4.

Avatar 3 and 4 to have major time jump, James Cameron reveals

In order to maintain continuity with his younger stars, Cameron filmed parts of Avatar 3 and 4 alongside The Way of Water.

“We did the capture on three and the live-action photography on three as an intermingled production with [Avatar: The Way of Water], and we even did part of movie four because our young characters are all going to have a big time jump in movie four,” he explained to People.

Cameron also revealed there’ll be a large time jump between the next sequels. “We see them and then we go away for six years and we come back. And so the part where we come back is the part we haven’t shot yet. So we’ll start on that after three is released,” he said.

As for what shape their stories will take, we’ve had a few teases. We’ll explore different Na’vi cultures; namely, the “Ash People”, who represent fire. “In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples. In Avatar 3, we’ll do the reverse,” he told France’s 20 Minutes.

“We will also explore new universes while continuing the story of the main characters. I can say that the last parts will be the best. The others were an introduction, a way to set the table before serving the meal.”

As for Avatar 4, producer John Landau told Empire it’ll follow Kiri, Lo’ak, Tuktirey, and Spider into adulthood, with the fifth chapter heading to Earth. “Hopefully, The Way of Water came to its own conclusion, as I think each movie will,” he said.

“But they do set things up because we get more and more invested in these characters. Where does Kiri go? What is Lo’ak up to? What decisions will Jake and Neytiri have to make? All of these will continue to drive our story.”

Avatar 3 will hit cinemas on December 19, 2025. Find out more about the movie here.