All four Avatar sequels will be stand-alone films, united by Pandora

As the world of Pandora promises to grow larger and larger with a whopping four Avatar films on the horizon, these new installments won't necessarily be sequels to the first film. At least, not in the traditional sense.

Collider reports that producer Jon Landau recently attended a screening for Alita: Battle Angel, where he addressed the future of James Cameron's sci-fi franchise and how the quartet of films will fit into the larger story.

"Each movie is a standalone movie that we would wanna go see. You don’t need to have seen the first Avatar to see Avatar 2," said Landau. Instead, he explained that each film will rely on the lush, digitally rendered worlds, which will take viewers on what he called "a visual and emotional journey."

"What we have the luxury of on Avatar is the world of Pandora," he continued. "We get to keep it there, but everything can be new; we’re not treading new ground."

The upcoming Avatar sequel is expected to be set in the oceans of Pandora, with the rumored title Avatar: The Way of Water. It's also wrapped filming, along with the third installment, which will allegedly be called Avatar: The Seed Bearer. There's no official word on the fourth and fifth films, rumored as Avatar: The Tulkun Rider and Avatar: The Quest for Eywa.

Landau has previously stated that all four movies will take place entirely on Pandora.

While we won't know how connected each individual film will be to the rest, we do know that Sopranos alum Edie Falco was recently cast as General Ardmore, the commander in charge of the RDA’s interests. It's unclear, however, if her role will span more than one film. Or which ones.

All in all, the future's looking pretty bright for the franchise, with multiple stand-alone sequels and an immersive theme park on the way. We'll see how things go at the box office when Avatar 2: Whatever It's Called hits theaters on Dec. 18, 2020.