James Cameron is not in Kansas anymore, he's on Pandora. Well, kinda. Technically, he's in farmhouse somewhere in New Zealand, hunched over a typewriter (or similar), and nuggeting out scripts for Avatars 2 and 3, but his mind is very much on the blue planet.
"I'm almost there", he tells website Play Goes Strong of the writing process, "it's building fast. I'm deep into it. There is that start-up torque where you feel it's coming to you and then you build up momentum, which is when it gets fun. The characters talk and it's writing itself. I'm living in Pandora right now."
Part of the battle has come, presumably, in developing an extended structure that spans the two sequels while packing in a world-expanding selection of beasties. Jujube bean-gnawing pressure for normal mortals but James Cameron is no ordinary mortal.
"Pressure, no. It's a little daunting because sequels are always tricky: you have to be surprising and stay ahead of audience anticipation. At the same time, you have to massage their feet with things that they know and love about the first film. I've walked that line in the past, so I'm not too worried about it."
So when will all this foot massaging begin? "The release date will be determined by when I get the script out. No pressure!"