James Cameron says he and the writers for Avatar 2 and 3 rejected numerous stories because they weren't "transportive" enough. In 2009, Cameron's Avatar cemented itself in film history by becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time (a title it recently reclaimed from Avengers: Endgame). It told an original story of veteran Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) who takes an opportunity to join an exploration expedition to the planet of Pandora, where he finds himself getting closer to the natives than he ever thought possible. Avatar's state of the art visual effects helped make it a must-see, and Cameron has been hard at work developing sequels ever since.
However, Avatar's follow-ups have been very slow to arrive. The exact number of sequels audiences can expect has fluctuated considerably (Cameron has now planned for 4), and their release dates have been moved numerous times. Currently, Avatar 2 is slated to premiere in December 2022 after being pushed back from this year. One of the reasons the Avatar sequels are taking as long as they are is Cameron's desire to further enhance the special effects being used. However, it also sounds like it took him and his writing team a long time to crack the stories for Avatar 2 and 3.
Cameron recently appeared on The Marianne Williamson Podcast and discussed the tricky writing process behind the Avatar sequels. In addition to revealing how he threatened to fire writers who kept trying to come up with new stories, Cameron explained there were several plots they rejected because of one particular reason. Cameron sought to recapture the elements that made the first Avatar resonate so much with audiences. The biggest element, he said, was the transportive feeling viewers received. "It didn’t have any ‘-isms’ to it, it was a dreamlike sense of a yearning to be there, to be in that space, to be in a place that is safe and where you wanted to be," Cameron explained. As a result, there were many stories that were rejected. He shared, "We created and rejected many storylines for the second and third film because they didn’t take us to that transportive, dreaming-with-your-eyes-wide-open feeling."
Regardless of how one feels about the Avatar films, there's no denying they have an incredible sense of place. The world of Pandora is well-developed, expansive, and visually stunning. It's no surprise Disney has since constructed a theme park area inspired by it. To lose that feeling in Avatar 2 and 3 would be to lose something incredibly vital, so it was smart of Cameron and his writing team to focus on it.
Very little is known about the plot of the sequels, though Avatar 2 will focus on Jake and Neytiri's (Zoe Saldana) family as they face a new threat. Early concept art has teased Avatar 2 will do a deep dive (literally) into the oceans of Pandora, which is a decision that could have perhaps stemmed from Cameron's transportive demand. Though they are still far away, fans can rest assured Avatar 2 and 3 won't be leaving behind the things that made their predecessor special.
Source: The Marianne Willamson Podcast
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