Avatar saga may extend beyond Fire and Ash as Cameron hints at future installments

James Cameron’s Avatar franchise may continue beyond Avatar: Fire and Ash, with both the director and his team signaling ongoing planning for future installments even as the latest film hits theaters. Deborah Scott, an Oscar-winning costume designer who has collaborated with Cameron across multiple projects, told The New York Post that Cameron is “always thinking several steps ahead,” though a seven-film arc isn’t guaranteed. “I don’t know about six or seven,” Scott said. “We’ve always had a sort of plan for four or five, possibly. We’ll see how these movies do, how the public likes this one.”

Cameron himself has stressed that the Avatar story is mapped out well beyond Fire and Ash and that he remains far from short on ideas. “We’re fully written through movie five, and I’ve got ideas for six and seven,” the director told People last year. “Although I’ll probably be handing the baton on at that point. I mean, mortality catches up.”

The Avatar saga centers on the lush alien moon Pandora and follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and the Na’vi as they respond to evolving threats. Cameron has long described Pandora as a living universe in progress, drawing inspiration from the epic sci‑fi worlds that shaped him. In February 2024 he said, “The world-building franchises that have been around since I was a kid – those were my inspirations. We’re still a young universe. We’re only two movies in, and we’re halfway through our third right now.” He has underscored that the goal is to push into new creative territory with each installment, rather than retreading familiar ground.

“Pandora is always interesting,” Deborah Scott told The Post. “It’s exciting because there’s going to be new stuff. We’re not going to stay in the same place we are now, and I think that’s going to have incredible creative challenges.” Cameron’s focus on novelty has been a hallmark of his career, dating back to Titanic. Scott, who won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for that film, said the same high standards apply to the Avatar projects: “The bar that they set in terms of everything being perfect matches what I feel and what I do in my work. So it makes for a good team. But it’s a very high bar, the reality that you’re working in.”

Fans looking ahead to Fire and Ash will meet new faces alongside familiar favorites. Varang, played by Oona Chaplin, is among the new characters drawing early attention, and Scott hinted that audiences are likely to warm to Chaplin’s performance. “I have a soft spot for [Zoe Saldaña’s] Neytiri. I think she’s got a great character. Zoe’s amazing,” Scott said, before adding that Varang’s introduction will broaden the emotional and narrative scope of the saga. “And of course, the new characters. Varang, played by Oona Chaplin. Oona’s performance is unbelievable. I think the fans are going to love her.”

The latest Lucasfilm-level scale of Avatar production has not diminished the film’s emphasis on character. Scott emphasized that, despite heavy use of CGI and performance capture, the emotional center remains grounded in real performances. “When I look at the characters, I don’t see blue,” she explained. “I see Sam Worthington, and I see Zoe Saldaña, because they’re so real.” Cameron has even had actors partially or fully dressed in costume on set to help ground their performances before the performance-capture process began.

“Live action is pretty similar,” Scott noted, underscoring that Avatar’s production still operates through traditional methods—fitted costumes, practical effects and collaborative work with production designers—before the virtual components are added. She described the process as “world-building with the production designers and with Jim,” a blend of hands-on craft and cutting-edge technology that has defined the franchise since its inception.

As Fire and Ash moves through theaters, Cameron’s team continues to map out the franchise’s trajectory. He has repeatedly described Pandora as an expansive universe with potential for growth across multiple films, and Scott’s remarks reinforce that this is a studio and creative effort designed to evolve rather than plateau. The cast remains anchored by Worthington and Saldaña, with Winslet, Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Yeoh among the returning and new performers enriching the world Cameron continues to imagine.

The question of whether Avatar will become a seven-film saga remains unresolved. Yet the dialogue among Cameron, Scott and the broader team indicates a willingness to pursue new stories on Pandora as long as the audience remains engaged. In the meantime, Fire and Ash invites viewers to experience a new phase of the Pandora saga and to meet the fresh faces Cameron and his collaborators are embedding into the universe. The ongoing expansion of Avatar reflects a broader trend in contemporary culture where blockbuster franchises are designed to evolve over many installments, rather than confined to a single narrative arc.

The creative team behind Avatar continues to balance ambitious world-building with human-scale storytelling, an approach that has defined Cameron’s career from Titanic to the latest installment. As Fire and Ash continues to draw audiences, the filmmaker’s plans for future entries—and the team’s confidence in those plans—signal that Pandora’s story has yet to run its course.