Avatar: The Way of Waterwas not always the sequel James Cameron was going to make. Back in September, the director revealed that his sequel was originally titledAvatar: The High Ground, but he only recently revealed some more facts about that script and why it was scrapped.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris set to release 13 years after 2009’sAvatar,which remains the number one highest film at the box office even after a decade. ThoughAvatar: The Way of Wateris projected to earn lessthan its predecessor at the domestic box office, it still promises a hefty haul of roughly $650 million. Previews of the film have also shown that the movie looks just as amazing as the first film, which is what originally drew audiences to the theater in the first place.
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In a new issue ofTotal Filmmagazine, Cameron reportedly discussed his development process for the sequel. He went into detail about one of the scrapped scripts, which was actually completed before he went ahead and started over. “I was working with a team of writers. We had a lot of ideas. We kept trying to corral it into a box and it never quite fit,” Cameron said. “So at a certain point, I said, ‘I’ll just finish it, and see if it’s a movie.’ I did. It came out, I think, at 130 pages. It was like, ‘Man, this is a great story. This is a hell of a read.'”
However, Cameron explained that the film’s script was scrapped because it didn’t fit theAvatarmould. “It was missing one of those critical elements about sequels, which is that it didn’t go enough into the unexpected,” Cameron explained. “It also didn’t play enough by ‘Avatar’ rules, which is to connect us to the dream world, that which has a spiritual component that we can’t even quite quantify in words. It ticked every other box, but it didn’t tick that one.” MeanwhileAvatar: The Way ofWatershows off more of Pandora, including more spiritual connections with Eywa, which is something Cameron was apparently keen on doing.
Describing one of the set pieces as “you’ve got the Na’vi fighting with bows and arrows in zero-G,” Cameron concedes that the film was a great read and that he reused some of the ideas for the sequel that actually got made, and for the graphic novel that will be released on December 6. This re-writing process appears lengthy, as the script turned out to be 132 pages, which probably contributed tothe long wait forAvatar 2.
While the script sounds interesting to read, it’s probably better that Cameron didn’t end upmaking a film that did not feel likeAvatar.The film may have its faults, but its sense of exploration and wonder helped ground the audience in the world of Pandora.
Avatar: The Way of Waterhits theaters on July 14, 2025.
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