James Cameron Says He Was “Saving” a AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH Scene For Later, But Then Said “F*ck That!"
James Cameron revealed that he decided to include a major sequence in the third installment of his sci-fi epic that he had originally planned to save for a future sequel.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is the third of five films in the Avatar saga, following 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water. The series is expected to continue through Avatar 5, which won’t arrive until 2031. But Cameron has no interest in dragging his feet with the story he wants to tell.
“The good news is I don't really second guess my creative impulses. Unless, and this happened a little bit on Fire and Ash, I'm looking at it going, you know, I'm not that much of a genius screenwriter.
“There's something a little off here in the storytelling. And so, our Toruk is back [in Fire and Ash], right? You know, the big bird that Jake rides [in the climax of the first Avatar].
“I've always been waiting for the question, 'Why doesn't he just go get the big red bird and kill everybody like he used to do?' Because that doesn't exist in The Way of Water at all.”
The Toruk, the massive winged predator that Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully bonded with in the climax of the first film, is one of the most iconic creatures in the franchise. Cameron says he realized he couldn’t just ignore it in the ongoing story.
“F*ck that! He should get the bird, and he does. And he uses it to wreak some havoc.”
The return of the Toruk means that Fire and Ash won’t just expand the mythology of Pandora, it’s going to bring back one of the most badass visual moments in the franchise. If Jake is mounting the Toruk once again, audiences can expect a sequence designed to leave jaws on the floor.
With Cameron moving scenes he once planned to “save,” Fire and Ash sounds like it won’t be holding anything back.