Fans eagerly awaiting the release of James Cameron's highly-anticipated sequel to 2009's top-grossing film "Avatar" will need to wait more because it won't be released this year or even next year, thanks to an "epic undertaking."

Speaking to the Toronto Star, Cameron said "Avatar 2" "is not happening" in 2018. This is because he and the whole production team plan on making a "cadence of releases," meaning he won't be working on just "Avatar 2," release it, and then work on succeeding sequels. Instead, he plans on shooting all sequels Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 at the same time.

Cameron admitted that the project is such a huge undertaking, comparing it to the building of the Three Gorges dam. If the first movie that topped the all-time box-office sales was created over a period of four-and-a-half years, Cameron said fans can just imagine how much time they will need to make the four sequels.

"It's pretty exciting stuff," Cameron said. "I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we're going to draw that curtain when the time is right."

Cameron and the whole Avatar 2 crew plan to make the movie worth the wait. Speaking to We Got this Covered, lead actor Sam Worthington (who played Jake Sully in the first movie) said Avatar 2 "is going to be like nothing you've ever seen."

Worthington said the sequel's world will be bigger than the first, but the movie will essentially be about family. He said in the sequel, Sully will have been living in the new world for quite some time already, but will be like it's his first time to see that world. What will his response – and the new world – be like? Fans will just have to wait until the movie is released.

Cameron hasn't announced a release date for "Avatar 2" just yet. The other sequels are said to be released in 2020, 2022, and 2023, IGN reported.