James Cameron Unveils Jake Sully’s Next Chapter in Avatar 4

Avatar: Fire and Ash is almost here, which means the big question is back on the table: what happens to Sam Worthington's Jake Sully after the threequel? James Cameron just addressed it… kind of.

So, what happens to Jake after Fire and Ash?

Short version: Cameron and Worthington are keeping their mouths shut. In a new chat with Deadline, the director was asked point-blank about Jake's path in Avatar 4 and 5. Neither he nor Worthington gave specifics. Instead, Cameron talked process, scale, and structure.

'You are not going to go off a cliff... This story lands. It ends.'

That was Cameron's way of saying Fire and Ash caps the first big arc. No mid-journey fade-out, no 'see you in two years' with Jake halfway to trouble. He wants audiences to feel like this chapter is complete.

The plan Cameron will not spell out (yet)

Cameron says the overarching saga is mapped. He compared the work to adapting novels that already exist and described the scripts as written in a 'novelistic' way. He also made it clear that if he decides to push ahead with a fourth and fifth film, he already knows what those stories are. He just is not sharing details right now, likening it to asking someone in the middle of giving birth about the next kid. Translation: there is a plan; you are not getting it today.

Worthington's read on the whole thing

Worthington backed that up, saying Cameron told him the Avatar story more like a long-form novel than a numbered set of sequels. He described it as being told like an old campfire tale — not carved into tidy, labeled parts. When people pressed him about individual sequels, he said Cameron does not think that way. It is a bigger-picture approach. He even framed it less like the Lord of the Rings movies and more like Tolkien writing an expansive world.

A quick timing wrinkle for Avatar 4

One concrete tidbit did slip out recently: in a Vanity Fair career retrospective, Cameron said Avatar 4 includes an eight-year time jump. So when we get there, expect a noticeable leap forward for Jake, Neytiri, and the kids.

• Fire and Ash wraps the first major Avatar arc — Cameron says this chapter has an ending.
• Cameron and Worthington will not reveal Jake's fate in Avatar 4 or 5, but Cameron says the larger story is already written in a novel-like way.
• Cameron suggests he will make 4 and 5 if he chooses to — and he knows those stories — but he is not discussing them right now.
• Avatar 4 features an eight-year time skip, per Cameron.

Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19, 2025.