Ahead of December’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, James Cameron and the series’ writers are opening up about cracking this epic story — and how the third installment began as a part of 2023’s Avatar: The Way of Water before taking on a life of its own.
Joining Cameron and The Way of Water screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver in the writers’ room were Josh Friedman (Avatar 4) and Shane Salerno (Avatar 5). Originally, there were only supposed to be three films following 2009’s Avatar; but as they got to work, they realized that “in a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie 2,” Cameron explains. “The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren’t drilling down enough on character. So I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to split it.’” And Avatar: Fire and Ash, also written by Jaffa and Silver along with Cameron, was born.
Having two films’ worth of time was a boon to the storytelling. “The characters needed to breathe,” notes Silver. “These movies are a lot more than just propulsive plot and gorgeous spectacle.” The writers drew from a personal place as they expanded the world of Pandora. “These characters are amalgams of us, our childhoods, our role as parents, [and] the mistakes we made — and probably to some extent continue to make — as parents,” says Cameron. “I mean, Jake is … very hard on his kids. Well, that’s me.”
While Cameron has similarities with Jake, Rick Jaffa found himself giving personal details to the character of Lo’ak, Jake’s middle child — and it was noticed. Jaffa shares, “A good friend of mine who saw The Way of Water, a woman I grew up with, wrote to me after she’d seen [the movie] and said that the relationship between Lo’ak and Neteyam reminded her of the relationship I had with my older brother [when I was younger].”
So after years spent building these characters and putting so much of yourself into them, what is it like to finally see everything come to life? (Such as in the newly released concept art of Lo’ak riding an ilu, seen above.) “It was spectacular,” says Silver. “You’re talking about a character for days and days, and suddenly there they are.”
Stay tuned to Avatar.com for all the latest news on Avatar: Fire and Ash, only in theaters December 19.
This information originally appeared in Empire magazine.