James Cameron has been talking to the Los Angeles Times about his plans for the second and third films in what (for now at least) we will have to call the Avatar trilogy. Exhibiting a rare lack of gallantry, he alluded to the perceived failure of the later Matrix films.

“I’m writing it as separate stories that have an overall arc inclusive of the first film. I don’t want to suffer from the Matrix 2 problem, where it just ends, like, what the hell? It’s got to end. There’s got to be a sense of conclusion, but also a sense that the journey will continue, and that’s a fine line.”

Talking to MTV, Cameron suggested that any fourth Avatar film – by which point we probably will be living on some distant planet – would most likely be a prequel to the first. “I have an idea for a fourth,” he said. “Basically it goes back to the early expeditions of Pandora.”