James Cameron has suggested over the last few months that Avatar 3’s production is complete as far as filming is concerned, but star Zoe Saldaña has seemingly contradicted that by stating that she is returning to finish the film in the summer.

Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar 3 were said to have been filmed back to back, leading to a mega-production cost that was split across the two movies. However, while James Cameron has discussed his 9-hour-long cut of the movie, which is rumored to be possibly heading to Disney+ as a series, it seems that filming is not quite as complete as he has made out in several interviews. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Saldaña said there is still a good chunk to be filmed. She commented:

“Yeah, I mean, we’re gonna go back this summer and finish it up. We’re 70% done there. But, we have time.”

She is certainly not wrong about them having time, with the movie not due in cinemas until December 2024. Still, it is strange for her estimate of how complete filming is to contradict previous statements about the movie's shooting. Either way, there seems to be a long way to go for the second sequel in the Avatar franchise. The CGI-heavy post-production has already led to rumors that the film could be potentially pushed back from its current release date if Cameron is not completely satisfied with the final product.

Related: Avatar: The Way of Water Had Over 1000 Different Versions Sent Out to Theaters Around the World

James Cameron’s Na-vi World Will Expand Again In Avatar 3

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20th Century Fox

James Cameron isn’t someone who usually makes movies that stick in the same area for long. That is certainly true of his Avatar movies, which saw 2022’s belated sequel expanding the world that was first introduced in 2009. In Avatar 3, it looks like Cameron is set to do the same thing all over again. In previous comments, the writer/director explained that he has a vision for Avatar 3, but some could be changed depending on the reaction to Avatar: The Way of Water. He said:

"I'm going to take a moment when the dust clears to assess what people loved and what they responded to the most in this current release, and I may go back and tinker a little bit, and we may go back and do a couple of moments here and there. It won't be radical, but maybe fine-tune it a bit to emphasize that which people are responding to. For example, Lo'ak really emerged as a character that people went with, so I might find ways to ... now, he's already the narrator -- oh, I'm giving away something here ... But this is okay, I think it could be intriguing for people to think about what's coming."

Avatar: The Way of Water arrived in cinemas as potentially one of the biggest financial disasters of the century if audiences didn’t buy back into the franchise after its 13-year absence from cinemas. However, with the film very quickly racking up over $2 billion at the worldwide box office, it is clear that there is plenty more in the Avatar tank, and we will see the next offering of it arrive in just over 18 months’ time.