James Cameron Says He’s the Only Person Who Knows How to Direct an Avatar Movie

A lot of people are gearing up for the release of Avatar: The Way of Water next month, but James Cameron is already looking to the future—as far ahead as Avatar 7.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron shares how he thinks he’ll have to pass the reins of the Avatar franchise to someone else down the line, but in the meantime, he’s the only one who knows how to make these films. Cameron says:

“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.”

If anything, Cameron thinks that he has about five or six more movies left in him before he retires, and three of them will be Avatar flicks.

I’ll admit, it’s kind of funny how the tune for the Avatar sequel was first met with scepticism, and now genuine enthusiasm. A lot of fans had been arguing online about whether Avatar was even a memorable film when it came to pop-culture, seeing that the story was pretty basic, but right after the release of the first teaser for Way of Water, everyone seems to have jumped on board.

Regardless of what you think of the story, it’s undoubtable that Avatar is one hell of a visual spectacle, and it looks like the sequel is going to be doing just that with all the upgrades of modern technology.

Catch Avatar: The Way of Water when it hits theaters on Dec. 16.