Alita: Battle Angel star Rosa Salazar just dropped a promising update regarding the long-awaited sequel to the 2019 sci-fi. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and co-written and produced by James Cameron, the film was only a modest success at the box office.

Despite not becoming a major commercial hit, the audience response to the movie was overwhelmingly positive, leading to sustained interest in Alita: Battle Angel 2 becoming a reality. For years, key creatives have expressed the intention of making a follow-up, but one has struggled to get the green light.

During a recent interview on the Collider Ladies Night interview series, Salazar, who played the titular cyborg, revealed that she is still hoping for Alita 2. “I’m always bringing up Alita,” the star said. “It still might [happen].” Salazar points to Cameron as a reason to be optimistic, saying “He’s got the set.”

Cameron’s busy schedule, however, could be a hindrance, with the star joking: “We’ll have Cameron just as soon as this next Avatar…” When the show’s hosts note that they want more sequels, Salazar responds with an affirmative “Me either.” She continues:

“I’m like, ‘Keep going, keep going.’ I’m one of those. I’m all the bots online doing that.”

As for why her interest in a sequel remains so strong six years later, the Alita star notes that she had an especially positive experience making the first one with Cameron and Rodriguez:

“It’s the best. I mean, it’s just the best. You have James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez, who are friends, who are making this thing together. All the love is there. You have an amazing script. You have an amazing graphics team like Wētā… You have thousands of people working on this thing, and it all comes down to this moment between two… It’s just so amazing. I love a collaborative process, and to be able to do it on that scale?”

Rosa Salazar Wrote Her Own Alita 2 Script Treatment

Before starring in Alita, Salazar starred in Insurgent (2015) and two Maze Runner sequels. In those movies, though, she wasn’t a lead, and that made Battle Angel a little daunting at first. Of getting top billing, she says it felt “Validating for about three seconds, and then you’re like, ‘I’m so nervous.'”

Even with the nerves, Salazar knew relatively early on she could do the character justice, recalling a particularly positive audition she had with Rodriguez when she realized their visions for the character were aligned:

“From the first moment I read the script, I’m like, ‘I can do this. I can bring this home for you.’ … I think it was just that last final audition with Robert, where I had the time and the space and the attention to really say, like, ‘This is who I think she is.’ And I think he said, ‘Okay. She has a clear vision of who this person is, and it jives with mine.’ So from that moment on, it was smooth sailing.”

Though official movement on Alita 2 has been slow-going, Salazar developed such a connection to her character and the world that she actually took it upon herself to write a treatment for a sequel. According to the star, Cameron was a fan of her idea:

“I wrote this treatment for Alita 2 right after the film, and I sent it to James Cameron. He was like, ‘This is so cool!’ Like, he’s James Cameron. It probably won’t be the one that we shoot, but I’m such an avid fan of those books that I just I couldn’t help myself.”

James Cameron & Robert Rodriguez Both Want Alita 2

Back in December 2022, Cameron revealed that he and Rodriguez had sworn a “blood oath” to make Alita 2. The delay, then, is seemingly on the studio side. Making an Alita follow-up would be an expensive endeavor, and the first film’s box office might be giving executives pause about making a sequel.

It’s also unclear whether a sequel could reassemble all the same stars. Mahershala Ali, for example, plays Alita villain Vector, and the film also teases a bigger role for Nova, played by Edward Norton. Both of these stars are in demand.

The “Alita Army,” though, remains active online and the film’s stature seems to have only grown in the years since its release. Sporting a 91% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, this is evidently a film that general audiences enjoyed. With Salazar, Cameron, and Rodriguez all still pushing for it, an Alita: Battle Angel sequel may still get made.