James Cameron Opens Up About the Big Timeline Jump Between AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH and AVATAR 4
During a recent interview with James Cameron shed new light on the timeline shift between Avatar: Fire and Ash and Avatar 4, and it’s a pretty significant jump.
The filmmaker explained that the production for the sequels has been a massive effort, especially as they worked to capture the performances for both Avatar: Fire and Ash and Avatar 4, which a good amount has already been filmed.
He shared with Vanity Fair just how demanding the schedule was for the cast. “All the actors worked for 18 months,” Cameron said while discussing how much work went into completing these movies.
“This isn’t like rocking up to a lectern, and in two days, doing an entire voice part for an animated film, Pixar animated film. Everything you see those characters do, the actors did. It took 18 months to do the two movies. So, about nine months of capture for each film.”
Cameron went on to describe how the team frequently bounced between scenes from multiple sequels. “But it was intermixed. We’d do Avatar 2 scene one day, and a [Avatar] 3 scene the next day.
“Even some stuff on 4. ‘Cause all the character jumped forward in age about eight years between the end of 3 and start of 4.”
That eight year time jump is the big reveal. The director confirmed that Avatar 4 begins almost a decade after Avatar: Fire and Ash ends, and they made the decision to shoot early material for the fourth film because the younger cast members wouldn’t stay young forever.
As Cameron put it, they needed to capture the kids’ performances before they “wouldn’t be kids anymore” when production continued. That’s kind of funny because Sigourney Weaver plays one of the kids in the film. He added: “We gotta make some money on the first three.”
Which is also funny, because the first two make a ton of money. Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water sit comfortably as the first and third highest grossing movies ever made worldwide, it seems safe to say the franchise has brought in plenty of revenue to keep the series on track.
The next chapter arrives soon with Avatar: Fire and Ash hitting US theaters on December 19, 2025. After that, fans can look forward to Avatar 4 on December 21, 2029.