Even though there are many sequels on the way, James Cameron explains that Avatar: Fire and Ash is the end of a saga. The fourth and fifth Avatar movies are respectively scheduled for December 21, 2029, and December 19, 2031.

Despite this, Cameron explains during a conversation with Gizmodo that Fire and Ash is the third and final act of the story that began with the original Avatar film in 2009. Because of the “long game” he has been playing with the movies, the filmmaker teases the payoff that comes after years of audiences investing in the “10 feet tall and blue” Na’vi. Check out Cameron’s comments below:

I don’t think of Fire and Ash as a sequel. I think it was a culmination of a saga. I like “saga” better than “sequel” because a lot of where we were going with the story was in the original architecture of the story. So if you think of this as the third act, I think that’s healthier. As opposed to a typical Hollywood sequel, where they make a bunch of money with a movie and then they’re like, “Oh, crap. We’ve got to scramble around and get a new script. Maybe it’s not so good, but let’s just shoot it and get it out there.” That’s not what we’re doing here at all. It’s a long game. And I went into it knowing that we’d be playing a long game and betting that the audience would come along with us and care about these people. Because they may be 10 feet tall and blue, but they’re people.

In terms of what this means for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, he clarifies that they are their own saga, with a first, second, and third act occurring in those two installments. He also refers to them as “vaporware,” seemingly referring to the extensive amount of work that still needs to be done on the sequels.

It’s its own saga. It’s got a beginning and a middle and an end that plays out across these two films. They’re vaporware right now.

Cameron has previously been open about the fact that his Avatar plan can only come to fruition if Fire and Ash is a box office success. Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water each made more than $2 billion worldwide, making them the first and third highest-grossing movies of all time at the worldwide box office.

Jack Champion and Trinity Bliss, who play the roles of Spider and Tuk in Avatar: Fire and Ash‘s cast, are fully on board for the sequels, as they already know where the story is headed. Champion says, “I really hope that we get to make four and five, because it’s such a mind-bending, crazy story that I feel has to be told,” while Bliss teases that “It goes to the next level.”

Cameron’s comments seem to indicate that Fire and Ash will not end on any kind of major cliffhanger and will resolve most, if not all, of the main storylines. Since this is the end of the original saga, it will likely see conclusions for Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who have been at the center of the series since the beginning.

The next saga is poised to focus more on the younger characters, including Spider and Tuk, which adds more credence to Champion and Bliss’ comments. Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) is also becoming the narrator in Fire and Ash, instead of his father, Jake, continuing to narrate as he did in the prior films.

There have been theories for a while about Jake dying in Avatar: Fire and Ash, which would add to how this is the end of a saga, but there are also ways for this part of the series to end without his death.

Avatar: Fire and Ash releases in theaters on December 19.