The Way Of Water And Its Sequels Took So Long Because They Simply Couldn’t Have Been Made Earlier

In an “Avatar: The Way of Water” panel attended by /Film moderated by producer Jon Landau, the Wētā FX team in attendance (Joe Letteri, Richie Baneham, Dan Barrett, Wayne Stables, Pavani Rao Boddapati, Johnathan Nixon) were asked about how they feel about newer blockbusters and the quick turnaround between sequels. Landau was more than ready to back up the long wait  between sequels — in fact, he believes they couldn’t have made the film otherwise:

“I think that what we’re able to present up on the screen today, we couldn’t have done five years ago[…] It took this time to create what I believe is currently the ultimate cinematic experience. Why did it take the time? First, Jim took two years to dive [into] the Mariana trench after the last sequels. Then he came back and spent a year writing 1500 pages of story notes.”

James Cameron took the scripts for his series of “Avatar” films very seriously. After assembling a writing team to craft the story, Cameron said he threw out the original script for what would become “The Way of Water” because it wasn’t up to his standards for an “Avatar” movie. When taking the thorough story process and pairing it with the technological barriers the production team had to crack, it’s no wonder there was such a long wait between films. It wasn’t just the story process, either. The fact that the production team decided to shoot most of the sequels in one go also led to the 13-year wait.