How Avatar: Fire and Ash were born from the way the overflowing ideas of the history of water

James Cameronvision for the Avatar The sequels were always enormous, but he also did not foresee how much history the room of his writers would be invented.

Initially, the plan had to follow the success of 2009 with three sequels, but once they started breaking The way of waterThey realized that they had more material than they could manage. Instead of cramming everything in a film, Cameron made the call to expand.

Cameron explains to Empire: “In a few words, we had too many great ideas in place of the film 2. The [film] He moved like a projectile train and we were not performing enough on the character. So I said: “Guys, we have to divide it.”

That decision led to Avatar: fire and ashand while The way of water It was already an epic follow-up, Cameron makes fun of that the next episode will be even bigger, saying: “Film 3 will actually be a little longer than the film 2.”

All this took shape in a vast room of the writers who included Cameron, The way of water co-scriptors Rick Jaffa AND Amanda Silveras well Josh Friedman (who is guiding Avatar 4) AND Shane Salerno (Avatar 5).

Silver spoke of the creative process, saying: “He was spectacular. You are talking about a character deeply for days and days, and suddenly they are there. “

When explaining the decision to separate the films, it was explained that it allowed a richer narrative: “The characters had to breathe. These films are much more than a simple propulsive plot and a wonderful show. I mean, these are real characters. “

Cameron continued to talk about how personal experiences shared the characters in the films: “These characters are amalgams of us, our childhood, our role as parents, the errors we have made and probably to a certain extent they continue to do as parents. I mean, Jake is a son of a whore. He is very hard with his children. Well, it’s me. “

Jaffa spoke of how he found elements of his own life in Jake’s son, Lo’Ak: “A good friend of mine who saw Way of water– A woman I grew up with – she wrote to me after seeing it and said that the relationship between Lo’Ak and Neteyam reminded her of the relationship I had with my older brother. ”

Cameron previously spoke of projecting the film, saying: “I showed it to some selected people and the feedback was certainly the most emotional and perhaps the best of the three so far”.

“We will find out, you know, but I feel quite well, and the work is exceptional by the actors. It is quite heartbreaking in a good way.”

Avatar: fire and ash Lands in cinemas on December 19, 2025.