AceShowbiz -

New updates on "Avatar" franchise have hit the web just a day after the news of "War of the Worlds" and "The Black Dahlia" scribe Josh Friedman's inclusion in the project emerged. It turns out that Oscar-winning director James Cameron has envisioned the sci-fi series becoming a quadrilogy, instead of trilogy.

To make it come true, more writers have been hired. In addition to Friedman, "Savages" writer Shane Salerno and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" scribes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are set to collaborate with Cameron, who is also known for directing Leonardo DiCaprio in "Titanic".

"Building upon the world we created with Avatar has been a rare and incredibly rewarding experience. In writing the new films, I've come to realize that Avatar's world, story and characters have become even richer than I anticipated," Cameron says in a statement, as cited by Collider.

"It became apparent that two films would not be enough to capture everything I wanted to put on screen. And to help me continue to expand this universe, I'm pleased to bring aboard Amanda, Rick, Shane and Josh - all writers I've long admired - to join me in completing the films screenplays."

The first of the planned three sequels to the 2009 hit pic is scheduled to arrive in theaters in December 2016. Meanwhile, the next two follow-ups are expected to grace big screens in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

In the first installment, Sam Worthington took the leading role as a paraplegic Marine who is sent to the moon of Pandora for one particular mission that requires him to go native with a race of blue alien Na'vi. It is, however, unknown whether Worthington and Zoe Saldana, who played Neytiri, are invited back to the sequels.