by Tom Hartig on March 2, 2023

Nowadays, there is little that represents blockbusters as much as James Cameron's "Avatar" franchise. Currently, "Avatar: The Way of Water" is breaking all kinds of records, and many are eager to find out how the franchise will continue. One option is becoming ever more likely: an Avatar TV series.

Back in December, Cameron was still rather reluctant to talk about a series adaptation. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said that he wasn't really interested because the technical obstacles for depicting Pandora were simply too great. He added that one would have to take another look in 10 years, when time-saving methods such as Deep Learning had advanced further.

After the success of "Avatar 2" at the box office, the director seems to have had a change of heart. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, he maintained that a series would not make sense at this time. However, he did lower the waiting period for a possible series to 5 years.

Indeed, it is comprehensible that "Avatar" cannot simply be adapted into a series: For one thing, the running time and the associated amount of CGI shots is a lot bigger than for feature films - meaning the costs would be even higher than for the already crazy expensive theatrical blockbusters. Just Part 2 alone cost $350 million for a running time of 192 minutes. A series would struggle a lot more to make up for these costs. Moreover, the vast worlds of Pandora are certainly perfectly suited for the overwhelming experience on a big screen - but would the home screens be able to keep up?

It took Cameron 13 years to make the "Avatar" sequels, and hardly anyone will be better acquainted with the technology involved. We are eager to find out how close we really are to an Avatar series when he tells us that we can ask for it again in 5 years. So in the meantime, we are rather looking forward to the upcoming feature films: "Avatar 3" will be released on December 20, 2024.