Editing Avatar: Fire and Ash (section)

== Development ==
In 2006, Cameron stated that if ''[[Avatar (2009)|Avatar]]'' was successful, he hoped to make two sequels to the film. In 2010, he said the film's widespread success confirmed that he would do so. The sequels were originally scheduled for release in December 2014 and 2015. He included certain scenes in the first film for future story follow-ups. Cameron planned to shoot the sequels back-to-back and to begin work "once the novel is nailed down". The sequels were confirmed as continuing to follow the characters of Jake and Neytiri in December 2009. Cameron implied that the humans would return as the antagonists of the story. In 2011, Cameron stated his intention to film the sequels at a higher frame rate than the industry standard 24 frames per second, in order to add a heightened sense of reality.

In 2013, Cameron announced that the sequels would be filmed in New Zealand, with performance capture to take place in 2014. An agreement with the New Zealand government required at least one world premiere to be held in Wellington and at least NZ$500 million (approximately US$410 million at December 2013 exchange rates) to be spent on production activity in New Zealand, including live-action filming and visual effects. The New Zealand government announced it would raise its baseline tax rebate for filmmaking from 15% to 20%, with 25% available to international productions in some cases and 40% for New Zealand productions (as defined by section 18 of the New Zealand Film Commission Act 1978).

In February 2016, production of the sequels was scheduled to begin in April 2016 in New Zealand. Cinematographer [[Russell Carpenter]], who worked with Cameron on ''[[True Lies]]'' (1994) and ''[[Titanic (1997)|Titanic]]'' (1997), and art director [[Aashrita Kamath]], joined as crew members for the four sequels. Kirk Krack, founder of Performance Freediving International, worked as a free-diving trainer for the cast and crew for the underwater scenes. On July 31, 2017, it was announced that the New Zealand-based visual effects studio [[Weta Workshop|Weta Digital]] had commenced work on the ''Avatar'' sequels.

[[Rick Jaffa]] and [[Amanda Silver]] were originally announced as Cameron's co-writers; it was later announced that Cameron, Jaffa, Silver, [[Josh Friedman]], and [[Shane Salerno]] took a part in the writing process of all of the sequels before being assigned to finish the separate scripts, making the eventual writing credits unclear. However, Josh Friedman announced in November 2015, via his Twitter, that he co-wrote ''Fire and Ash''. In November 2022, Friedman announced that he actually had co-written the screenplay for the fourth film instead.

=== Writing ===
Cameron wanted to explore "different cultures" from the first two ''Avatar'' films by including "Ash People"—fiery versions of Na'vi. He chose them to "another angle" as enemies because Cameron previously took Na'vi "good sides" and humans on another. Landau said that "There are good humans, and there are bad humans — the same thing on the Na'vi side — but oftentimes, people don't see themselves as bad. What is the root cause of how they evolve into what we perceive as bad? Maybe there are other factors there that we're not aware of."

[[Jack Champion]] said of reading the script for ''Fire and Ash'': " I was very shocked by it. It just takes a hard left turn, and that's not a bad thing. You think you know where it's going, but then a wrecking ball comes. So you're completely like, 'Oh wow, I never thought that would've happened.' You also see more regions of Pandora, and you get introduced to more cultures. So I think it's even better than ''Avatar 2''. Collectively, they'll each get better."

=== Casting ===
[[Sam Worthington]] and [[Zoe Saldana]] were confirmed in January 2010 to have signed on to reprise their roles in the sequels. Cameron also stated that [[Sigourney Weaver]] would be featured in all three sequels (the fourth film was not planned at the time) and that her character Grace Augustine would be alive, but it was later revealed she would instead be playing Kiri, Jake and Neytiri's adopted daughter. In August 2017, in an interview with Empire, Cameron revealed that [[Stephen Lang]] would not only be returning in all four sequels but he would also be the main villain in all four films.

In August 2017, [[Matt Gerald]] had officially signed on to portray his first film's role Corporal Lyle Wainfleet in all upcoming sequels. On October 3, 2017, [[Kate Winslet]] had signed on in all four sequels for an unspecified role in the film. Cameron commented, "Kate and I had been looking for something to do together for 20 years, since our collaboration on ''Titanic'', which was one of the most rewarding of my career", and added that her character was named Ronal. On January 25, 2018, [[Dileep Rao]] was confirmed to return as Dr. Max Patel. Winslet commented that her role was "relatively small comparative to the lengthy shoot", as she would only have one month of shootings, but also "a pivotal character in the ongoing story".

In June 2017, [[Oona Chaplin]] joined the cast as Varang, "a strong and vibrant central character who spans the entire saga of the sequels" starting with 3. [[Eiza González]] also auditioned for Chaplin's role. In April 2018, [[David Thewlis]] revealed his involvement in the franchise, stating that he would be featured in three of the four sequels, later stating in January 2020 that his character was a Na'vi. This led to Thewlis being largely reported as part of the cast of ''[[Avatar: The Way of Water]]''; however, he stated in June 2020 that the reports were wrong, and that he would actually be a part of ''Avatar 3'' to ''5''. In 2019, [[Michelle Yeoh]] joined the cast in a live-action role as Dr Karina Mogue.

=== Filming ===
Principal photography on ''Avatar: The Way of Water'' and ''3'' began simultaneously on September 25, 2017, in Manhattan Beach, California. On November 14, 2018, Cameron announced filming with the principal performance capture cast had been completed. Most filming on the next two sequels will begin after wrapping the post-production on first two sequels. According to producer [[Jon Landau]], live-action filming for ''Avatar 3''and its predecessor commenced in New Zealand in early 2019. On March 17, 2020, Landau announced that the filming of the ''Avatar'' sequel films in New Zealand had been postponed indefinitely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also confirmed that production would remain in Los Angeles. However, work on visual effects will continue at Weta Digital in Wellington.

In early May, health and safety production protocols have been endorsed by the New Zealand government, allowing filming to resume in the country. However the production team for the Avatarsequels has not yet returned to New Zealand. On May 31, part of the Avatar crew including James Cameron were granted entry into New Zealand under a special visa category for border exemptions for foreigners deemed essential to a project of "significant economic value." On June 1, 2020, Landau posted a picture of himself and Cameron on Instagram, showing that they had returned to New Zealand to resume filming. After their arrival, all 55 crew members who had traveled to New Zealand started a 2-week government-supervised isolation period at a hotel in Wellington before they would resume filming. This would make ''Avatar: The Way of Water'' and ''3'' the first major Hollywood blockbusters to resume production after postponing filming due to the pandemic. In September 2020, Cameron announced that 95% of ''Avatar 3'' had been completed. Filming wrapped in December 2020.

In early July 2022, the New Zealand Film Commission acknowledged that the ''Avatar'' sequels had received over NZ$140 million worth of taxpayer funding via the country's Screen Production Grant. By comparison, ''[[The Hobbit]]'' trilogy had received NZ$161 million in film subsidies. While ACT party deputy leader Brooke van Velden criticised the Government's film subsidy programme for allegedly diverting public funding from other areas, the Economic Development and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash argued that New Zealand's film subsidies for major Hollywood products brought substantial overseas investment and jobs for the New Zealand film industry.

In February 2024, Cameron gave the following update on ''Fire and Ash'':
It's pretty much in the can. We're shooting pick-ups on [''Fire and Ash''], which is just filling in the last 2 or 3%, and we've also got live-action pick-ups in June, that's another couple percent. We've got about a quarter of movie 4 in the can. We're post on [''Fire and Ash''] and now doing the VFX, which is an enormous job. I'll need every second between now and then to get it done. The tech has reached the point right now where it's really what we need. We make little improvements as we go along, but we're there. The whole point is we jumped back, that's why we spent seven years building to it and four years shooting the two films together. It's not about the technology, but about the minds and eyes of the computer artists. It's a very, very creative process—it's artistry. Thousands of people are involved and conducting the orchestra to get it all pitch perfect right now.