Avatar 4 has begun filming months before The Way of Water's release, confirms director James Cameron

Even as Avatar: The Way of Water is three months away from release, James Cameron has revealed that filming of Avatar 4 has already begun.

Even as Avatar’s long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, is awaiting release later this year, director James Cameron has revealed that work on the planned fourth part of the franchise has begun as well. In fact, the film crew has even shot a few scenes for the film with some child actors. The director revealed this in a video message at Disney’s D23 Expo.

James Cameron’s follow-up to Avatar (2009) is only coming out later this year. He’s spent more than a decade developing underwater motion-capture filmmaking for Avatar 2, much of which is set in the sea. (Courtesy Everett Collection)

While James Cameron did not appear at the star-studded event in the US that saw showcases from all arms and wings of Disney, he did send in a video message to give some update about the Avatar franchise. The second of the five films, The Way of Water, is set to release on December 16 this year, and shoot for part 3 is underway.

As per ComicBook.com, in his video message, the director called The Way of Water “a bit of an Odessy” and noted that “it's going great.” The report states that he also confirmed that filming on Avatar 3 is continuing and revealed that production on Avatar 4 has officially begun now. In an earlier interview, James had said that he and his team had shot some scenes for part involving with the child actors who play Jake and Neytiri’s kids. “Anything that had to be done with a specific actor, we did all the scenes for 2 and 3 together — and a little bit of 4. Because once again, I had to shoot the kids out. They're allowed to age six years in the middle of the story on page 25 of movie 4. So I needed everything before then, and then everything after, we'll do later,” he had told ComicBook.com.

Avatar, released in 2009, is the highest-grossing film of all-time, having earned over $2.8 billion at the box office globally. The film stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver. Sam, Zoe, and Sigourney return in the sequel, with Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, and Vin Diesel joining the cast. The film releases on December 16, 2022.