James Cameron wrote and directed 2009’s Avatar, which would go on to become the biggest box office movie of all time, so you would expect him to also write and direct the long awaited sequel, Avatar 2. But it appears that Cameron will instead have others pen the follow-up, or at least work with him in crafting a draft or two.

According to a source close to Fox, Cameron has brought in Josh Friedman to work on the script for the sequel. Friedman created the Fox TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles—based on the Terminator movie franchise, of which Cameron directed the first two installments — and has also worked on the screenplays for Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds and The Black Dahlia, as well as the teleplay for the Locke & Key series that never came to be.

Just in case you were wondering, Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are still in development, or lack thereof. Director James Cameron has promised that the first sequel to the top box office grossing film will take us to the oceans of Pandora. It’s an environment that Cameron is clearly fond of; his deep sea exploration of Mariana’s Trench shows just how passionate the director is.

The underwater setting does have its complications though. Getting the characters to interact with the underwater environment the way he wants to is one of the biggest problems. But film producer Jon Landau believes that he has found a way to overcome that problem. Rather than simulate scenes in the oceans without actually capturing the actor’s experience of them being underwater, Landau confirms that they will use the motion-capture technology in a tank.

While Avatar 2 and 3 are currently in development, the fact that there is an Avatar 4 also on the schedule seems to be downright crazy. Earlier, producer Jon Landau cleared some things up by saying there were no plans to shoot a fourth Avatar film. But that could all change, depending on the success of the next two installments. And if they are successful, who’s to say that Avatar 4 would be a direct follow up to the events of Avatar 3?

Well James Cameron spoke to MTV and said that he is exploring some ideas that would make Avatar 4 a prequel.

If and when James Cameron begins filming his Avatar sequels, everyone will be closely watching if he can match or elevate the look and feel of Pandora. Avatar is only the highest grossing film of all time, so it is only fair that the audience get something that’s fresh and improved. Cameron has said that he will stop making non-Avatar films — after he said you would have to pry Battle Angel out of his cold dead hands – and sees himself making an Avatar 4. But if he really intends to make three sequels to Avatar, one can’t even imagine how long the film making process would actually take.

So rather than shoot these three sequels separately, why not shoot them all together at once? At least that’s what Avatar star Sigourney Weaver says will happen.

Some quarreling reports have made their way out into the world about the potential release window for James Cameron‘s sequel to the biggest movie ever made, Avatar.

Back in October of 2010 we found out that the plan appeared to be to shoot Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 back-to-back, and release them in the years 2014 and 2015, respectively. Now, according to sources, we might not even see the first sequel until the year 2016.