James Cameron Reveals He Filmed 'Avatar' Sequels Back to Back to Avoid the 'Stranger Things Effect'

James Cameron is explaining what the “Stranger Things effect” is, and how he tried to avoid it when filming the Avatar films.

The 68-year-old director explained that the “Stranger Things effect” comes from the aging of young actors on multi-year film and TV projects.

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“I love Stranger Things, but you get the Stranger Things effect where they’re supposed to still be in high school, and they look like they’re 27,” James told EW.

Jack Champion, now 18, was cast at just age 12 and was “growing like a weed,” he said. “We shot with Jack when he was 14 and 15, almost up to 16. So we were shooting him over an 18-month period.”

So to avoid seeing the vast difference in the actors’ ages over the course of the project, James Cameron made sure to film all of the sequels consecutively or even at the same time.

Some days production would be shooting two scenes from Avatar 2 in the morning and then scenes from Avatar 3 later in the day.

Production schedule was held up due to COVID, but fortunately, they were able to get back on track after appealing to the New Zealand government.

Avatar 3 is scheduled to be released on Dec. 20, 2024 and Avatar 4 is scheduled to be released in 2026.

Matt Damon revealed in 2021 during the Cannes Film Festival that James Cameron pursued him to star in Avatar, and offered him a deal in which he’d get 10% of the movie’s profits.