James Cameron Reveals He Already Has Plans for Avatar ‘6 and 7’ (Exclusive)

Avatar 3 may not have hit theaters yet, but James Cameron already has plans for the sixth and seventh films in the franchise.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE at the 51st Annual Saturn Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, the 69-year-old director talked about the sequels and his involvement.

“We’re completely written through the fifth movie, and I have ideas for the sixth and seventh, though I’ll probably pass the baton on at that point,” Cameron told PEOPLE. “I mean, mortality is catching up with them. But I mean, we enjoy what we do. We love it. We work with great people.”

Cameron — who won four awards at the ceremony, including best film director — also talked about how he wants to Avatar be franchise like Star Wars and Star Trek.

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“Star Trek, Star Wars, the world-building franchises that have been around since I was a kid, those were my inspirations,” Cameron said. “And as I said, we are still a young universe. We only have two movies, we’re halfway through the third now. In order to have such an impact on culture over time, you have to put all your heart and energy into it.”

AvatarHis third film is expected to hit theaters in 2025, with Avatar 4 next 2029 i Avatar 5 in 2031.

Cameron continued: “People always ask us, ‘So why did you just keep working in the same…’ Why did Lucas keep working in the same thing? Why did Roddenberry keep working on the same thing? Because when you connect with people, why waste it? Why would you start over with something else that might not connect?”

James Cameron at the 51st Saturn Awards in Los Angeles.

Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty

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“And there are more stories to tell,” he added Avatar producer Jon Landau, 63, to PEOPLE. “I mean, it’s not like we’re trying to make up stories. He has stories, and we took the time to spread them across all four installments.”

Meanwhile, Cameron said that if the films continue to be successful – the first two became the No. 1 and No. 3 highest-grossing films of all time – it proves that “people are innately empathetic.”

“They innately want to connect with each other,” he added. “They innately want beauty. And so many science fiction movies are dystopian.” Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“Ours is actually dystopian in its message to a degree, but it’s about beauty, about connection, about positive values, and it seems to be working,” Cameron continued. “So what does that tell us about us? And as human beings globally? Because movies are successful in all markets everywhere. And so I think that’s empowering for us.”

While Avatar was published in 2009, Avatar: The Way of Water hit theaters in 2022 and grossed a whopping $2.3 billion at the box office.

Cameron and Landau have remained tight-lipped about the upcoming sequels, but the director teased the franchise in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, “We decided that we needed to leap far ahead to places that people couldn’t foresee [for The Way of Water] and we will do it again with the film 3 also.”

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Source: HIS Education