
Aquaman director James Wan wants to play in the Avatar sandbox.
Wan, who has also helmed horror hits like Insidious, The Conjuring, and Malignant, revealed in a new interview with Screen Rant that he'd be happy to work on James Cameron's Avatar franchise if the director steps away after Avatar: Fire and Ash.
"I have not done Avatar," Wan said. "Yeah, if you could put a good one for me with James Cameron, I'd love to take a crack at that."
However, while Cameron has indicated he'd be open to stepping back from Avatar in the future, it does sound like he'll always want to be closely involved.
When asked by Matt Belloni whether he'd hand the franchise to someone else, Cameron said, "Absolutely not," noting he'd always at least be on board as a producer: "I don't think there'd ever be a version where there's another Avatar movie that I didn't produce closely. But in terms of it taking over my life, you know, that's a threshold issue for me."
Cameron also indicated he'd be willing to step away from the franchise if Fire and Ash didn't make enough money. "Absolutely," Cameron said. "I've been in Avatar land for 20 years. Actually, 30 years, because I wrote it in '95, right, but I wasn't working continuously on it for those first 10 years. There was a brief flurry of interest in '95, and then everybody said, 'You're out of your mind,' and I shelved it for 10 years, and then we got serious in 2005. Yeah, absolutely. Sure, if this is where it ends, cool."
But, Avatar: Fire and Ash recently crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office, so there seems to be no risk of the franchise failing financially. Avatar 4 is currently set for release on December 21, 2029.
Fire and Ash is in theaters now. For more, check out our Avatar: Fire and Ash review or our Avatar: Fire and Ash ending explained.