A lot of the filmmaker’s fans would probably prefer it if James Cameron decided to try something different for a change, but the constant groundbreaker seems content to spend what looks to be the rest of his career on Pandora. It seems hard to believe given the huge impact he’s had on cinema as a whole over the last 35 years, but the upcoming Avatar 2 will only mark his ninth full-length feature, and just his third in 25 years.
Having been delayed multiple times already, the current December 2022 release date for Avatar 2 is almost certainly going to be moved again, but even if things go to schedule and all four sequels arrive on time, Cameron is going to be well into his 70s by then, and probably more content than ever to live out the remainder of his days pushing the technological boundaries of what he can bring to the sci-fi franchise.
There’s been a steady stream of set photos making their way online ever since Avatar 2 became the first high-profile Hollywood production to resume filming following a Coronavirus-enforced hiatus, and the latest batch of images have been accompanied by a description for one of the new characters. The fantastically-named Jack Champion will be starring as Javier ‘Spider’ Socorro, a human teenager who feels much more at home in the rainforests of Pandora than with his own kind.
Champion was only 12 when he first joined the cast, and Avatar 2 is taking so long that he’s undergone quite the physical transformation, which you can check out in the gallery below.
With a reported billion dollars being spent on the budgets, the Avatar sequels will need to do some massive business at the box office to turn a profit. Despite the perceived lack of enthusiasm from audiences, though, you’d have to be a fool to write off James Cameron again, especially when he’s got a bone to pick with Avengers: Endgame for stealing his movie’s crown as the highest-grossing title in history.