It has been acceptable, up to this point, to be skeptical about those multiple Avatar sequels actually happening. Much like the Star Wars prequels once were, they seem to be talked about strictly as a hypothetical, as time goes on and on, and the distance from the original gets greater.

Or so it used to be, until this morning, when James Cameron made a little bit of an announcement:

Yes, production has finally begun, and the schedule for all four concurrent sequels is interesting. Avatar 3 will rather quickly follow Avatar 2, after which there’ll be a three-year gap, and then Avatar 4 and 5 will come out shortly after one another. One hates to read too much into this, but what the hell, we’re nerds and that’s what we do: the timing suggests this may effectively be a “trilogy,” but one in which the second and third installments are both split into two parts for length’s sake. And frankly, James Cameron has earned the trust that his longer cuts are usually even better.

The original Avatar came out in 2009, and 11 years is one long wait for a sequel, but again, remember how long it took after Return of the Jedi to get a new Star Wars theatrical feature. We’ll have the Avatar theme park soon to get us hyped, and Cameron has suggested it’s taken this long in part because he wants glasses-free 3D to be a thing by the time the movies are ready.

Are you still profoundly in love with Pandora? Can you wait three more years? We see you–and we want to hear your feedback in comments.

Images: 20th Century Fox