A long-awaited sequel to James Cameron's passion project, 'Alita: Battle Angel,' may finally get off the ground, producer says

• A sequel to 2019's "Alita: Battle Angel" may be on the way.
• Producer Jon Landau said he and James Cameron have actively discussed the project in the past few weeks.

A follow-up to "Alita: Battle Angel" may finally get off the ground.

"Have there been any conversations about 'Alita'? Several, even in the last couple weeks," James Cameron's longtime producing partner, Jon Landau, told Insider during a press day for the digital release of "Avatar: The Way of Water."

A passion project of Cameron's for over 20 years, the original "Alita" was released in 2019 after having been pushed back several times due to Cameron's work on the "Avatar" franchise.

Based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series "Gunnm," the sci-fi epic follows a female cyborg, Alita (Rosa Salazar), in the year 2563, who has trouble remembering her past and sets out in search of answers about her origins.

Cameron had initially hoped to direct "Alita" himself, but eventually brought in director Robert Rodriguez, his friend of 25 years, to oversee the project. Cameron wrote the film's screenplay with Rodriguez and Laeta Kalogridis ("Shutter Island").

"We've been talking to Robert. We've talked to Rosa," Landau added of the film's director and star about continuing the "Alita" franchise.

"It's a place where Jim and I really think there are more stories to be told," he continued. "We think that in the Alita character, it is something that is so relatable to audiences today."

Originally envisioned as a trilogy, the 2019 film made $404 million worldwide on an estimated $170 million budget.

Cameron and Landau have teased their desire to revisit that world for months.

In December, at the "Avatar: The Way of Water" world premiere, Landau told Deadline that apart from working on the "Avatar" franchise, he'd love to "do a sequel to 'Alita: Battle Angel.'"

That same month, Cameron and Rodriguez made a "blood oath" to make a sequel during a conversation for Variety.

The record-breaking box-office for "Avatar: The Way of Water" may have helped put Cameron and Landau in a better position to revisit the project. With a worldwide gross of over $2.3 billion, "The Way of Water" is now the third highest-grossing film of all time.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" will be available exclusively to purchase on digital on March 28.