James Cameron is one of the greatest directors of all time, holding the title as the director of the highest-grossing movie ever and being behind some of the most iconic sci-fi movies of the 80s and 90s. Now his future is all about bringing his Avatar vision to life with multiple sequels already written and in production, but it seems that even that might not be the end of the franchise. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron hinted that Avatar 6 and 7 could be possible, but he may need a protégé to take over by then.

It has taken 13 years to bring Avatar: The Way of Water to cinemas. Even though preliminary filming on Avatar 3 is complete, Cameron is under no illusion that work on the two additional sequels he has scripted will be that swift. As he explained, while there could be more stories of Pandora, he doesn’t believe he will be the one telling them. He said:

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“We’ll probably finish movie three regardless because it’s all shot. We’d have to really crater for it not to seem like it was worth the additional investment. We’d have to leave a smoking hole in the ground. Now, hopefully, we get to tell the whole thing because five’s better than four, four’s better than three and three’s better than two. [For Avatar 6 and 7] I’d be 89 by then. Obviously, I’m not going to be able to make Avatar movies indefinitely, the amount of energy required. I would have to train somebody how to do this, because I don’t care how smart you are as a director, you don’t know how to do this.”

Will James Cameron Step Aside From The Franchise After Avatar 3?

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While there is no doubt that Avatar is James Cameron’s baby, how long he will remain in the director’s chair is something that even he does not seem to know. While the longevity of the Avatar franchise comes down to the simple fact of how much money the previous movie made, Cameron has suggested that if Avatar 3 is successful enough to warrant more, he could pass the baton to a new director.

With Avatar: The Way of Water tracking to be one of the biggest movie releases of the year, it seems very unlikely that the plug is going to be pulled on Avatar 3, or 4 or 5, for that matter. Still, the film is facing insurmountable pressure as it reportedly has to gross more than $1 billion to break even. Of course, additional profit will be made from digital and physical sales at a later date, but the risk of diminishing returns could see future Avatar movies having to curb their budgets. Whether that is something Cameron will be willing to do, is something only he can say.

“The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming. I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting. I think eventually over time – I don’t know if that’s after three or after four – I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know.”