Every few months James Cameron pokes his head out of the ground and promises an Avatar sequel. Here’s his latest foray out into the bright, yellow sunlight and we’re happy to report that he did not, in fact, see his shadow when talking to EW.

During their interview he reaffirms what we already knew: That Avatar 2 & 3 will be shot back to back. Right now he’s “in the process of writing the next two Avatar films.” That means they’re a long, long way off from being in theaters. Cameron predicts the first one will show up in theaters for Christmas of 2014 with Avatar 3 in theaters a year later on Christmas of 2015.

Don’t hold him to those dates. One thing that’s been pretty clear about the whole Avatar sequel process all along is James Cameron’s absolute lack of hurry. He’s in no rush and he’ll get around to it when he gets around to it, if he gets around to it at all. At least we know he’s writing something and he’s far enough along to start predicting which characters from the first movie will return. Cameron says, “Basically, if you survived the first film, you get to be in the second film, at least in some form.”