Fans of Pandora are eagerly waiting to return once Avatar: Fire And Ash releases this Christmas. As its release date draws closer, Director James Cameron officially revealed that the film will be the longest in the series yet. 

Avatar: Fire And Ash picks up where the second film, The Way Of Water, left off. In that film, the Sully family had to abandon their home after an old enemy came back, forcing them into hiding. But when they’re eventually discovered, they have to take a stand and defend their new home, despite what it could cost them. 

“Movie 3 will actually be a little bit longer than movie 2,” Cameron simply told Empire Magazine while discussing the upcoming blockbuster. 

While confirmed it will be longer, there is no concrete runtime for Fire And Ash as of yet. Hollywood Reporter noted that The Way Of Water already had a runtime of 3 hours and 12 minutes, while the theatrical cut of the first film ran for 2 hours and 42 minutes. 

Cameron explained to Empire that they had a lot of concepts going on within the second film, prompting them to split the ideas between that and the upcoming film.

He also cited one reason for splitting it to be to give the film and story itself more time to breathe when it comes to the characters and how they’re interacting with each other and their surroundings. 

Even with the over 3 hour runtime of Fire And Ash, and the long time of the other two films, Cameron is no stranger to long runtimes. Titanic, perhaps Cameron’s most well known movie, lives up to its namesake not only with the story, but with a similarly large runtime of 3 hours and 14 minutes. Some of his other movies, such as Aliens and Terminator 2, also clock in at over at least 2 hours, both of which clock in at 2 hours 17 minutes. 

Avatar: Fire And Ash hits theaters December 19th.