James Cameron always seems to be playing the long game, especially when it comes to his Avatar franchise. But ahead of the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, he’s making something very clear, and that is that this next chapter should not be thought of as a sequel. In a new interview, the director, whose filmography includes some of the most beloved sequels ever made, explained that Fire and Ash represents something bigger, more structural, and more intentional than what the word “sequel” usually implies. He prefers to call it something different altogether.
Cameron said he’s comfortable with where Fire and Ash leaves things, even if the franchise never moves forward from here, though there have been rumors of plans for a fourth and fifth film. And that confidence comes from how he’s always envisioned the first three films, not as individual chapters churned out one by one, but as parts of a single, carefully built arc. Here’s how he put it to io9:
