Last night, we reported that James Cameron would shoot all three Avatar sequels over the course of nine months in New Zealand.  Today, he's provided some new information about the plot for the upcoming trilogy.  Story details have been scarce, especially since the sequels were expanded to three movies as opposed to just two.  When it was just Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, the sequels were reportedly about wrapping up the relationship between Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).  While that may still be part of the plan even with another film in the mix, Cameron has revealed some lofty aspirations for how he plans to explore Pandora and expand Jake's story.

Hit the jump for more.  Filming is expected to begin in October 2014.  The Avatar sequels will come out at the pace of one film every December starting in December 2016.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

While the structure and possible plots for the sequels has fluctuated over the years, Cameron has always planned to go underwater.  Speaking to the AP, Cameron clarified the role ocean life would play in the upcoming movies:

"There's a fair bit of underwater stuff. It's been inaccurately said that the second film takes place underwater. That's not true," he said. "There are underwater scenes and surface-water scenes having to do with indigenous ocean cultures that are distributed across the three films."

The new films will go beyond the oceans and will explore the rest of the Pandora.  At one point, Cameron was even considering a venture into other parts of the solar system, but decided there was enough diversity on Pandora to fill out the trilogy.  "I mean the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasy land that is going to occupy people for decades to come," says Cameron.  Considering that I actually got a "Guide to the Flora and Fauna" book when I went to the press screening of the first movie, I know Cameron isn't exaggerating.

But the most ambitious part of Cameron's plan isn't the design of Pandora, but where he's going to take Jake's story:

"We spread it around quite a bit more as we go forward. It's really the story of his family, the family that he creates on Pandora. His extended family. So think of it as a family saga like 'The Godfather.'"

I assume this means there will be a gigantic action sequence based around a toll booth.

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Image via 20th Century Fox