James Cameron confirmed that the Avatar sequel has been delayed, and likely won’t hit theaters until late 2017.

Avatar Sequel Delayed To 2017

When Cameron, who helmed the infinitely successful Avatar, originally announced that there would be three more Avatar films, the first sequel was scheduled for a 2016 release. However, now that Cameron has embarked on writing the trilogy of films, the actor-director says he has fallen a bit behind, forcing a delay.

“There’s a layer of complexity in getting the story to work as a saga across three films that you don’t get when you’re making a stand-alone film,” Cameron explained.

Cameron explained that he is currently writing all three scripts simultaneously to ensure that the three films create a cohesive whole. He hopes to have all three scripts written by February.

“We’re writing three simultaneously. And we’ve done that so that everything tracks throughout the three films. We’re not just going to do one and then make up another one and another one after that. Parallel with that we’re doing all the design. So we’ve designed all the creatures and the environment,” Cameron added.

All three Avatar sequels will be filmed consecutively as well, so despite the delay, all three films should end up hitting theaters in three consecutive years. Little is known about the plot for the three Avatar sequels, but stars Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington have signed on for the three films and Cameron did reveal that the films would explore the under-water world of Pandora.

“At first I thought I was going to take it onto other worlds as well, in the same solar system, but it turned out not to be necessary. I mean, the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasyland that is going to occupy people for decades to come, the way I see it,” Cameron said in 2013.