Avatar: The Way of Water continued to expand Pandora, taking us to a new part of the planet while diving into its oceans. That resulted in some of the best VFX we've ever seen in a modern blockbuster, though the sequel was relatively slow-paced and didn't move James Cameron's overarching story as forward as we'd hoped.
However, in an interview which took place last December, franchise producer Jon Landau teased, "In ['Avatar 5'] there is a section of the story where we go to Earth. And we go to it to open people’s eyes, open Neytiri's eyes, to what exists on Earth."
In other words, Neytiri will somehow find herself on Jake Sully's planet, a unique twist that, while a long way off, has plenty of potential.
Now, some resurfaced Avatar concept art - courtesy of artists Seth Engstrom and Dylan Cole - reveals what Earth looks like a hundred or so years from now. As you can see, it appears crowded, polluted, and suitably futuristic.
In The Way of Water, General Frances Ardmore confirmed Earth is a dying planet, and as Jake makes his way around this unnamed city, it looks suitably overcrowded and near-post-apocalyptic.
It's for that reason the RDA has invaded Pandora, of course, and we're sure Cameron will revisit this artwork when the time comes to finally shift the action back to our planet. The filmmaker clearly intends to devote the rest of his career to this sci-fi franchise, and by the time the fifth instalment is released, over two decades will have passed since 2009's Avatar first arrived in theaters (are you feeling old yet?).
We recently learned that Avatar 3 has shifted its release date to December 19, 2025. As a result, Avatar 4 moves to December 21, 2029, with Avatar 5 now taking aim at a December 19, 2031 release.
Take a closer look at this concept art (via SFFGazette.com) below.