Zoe Saldana thanked her Avatar director James Cameron for giving her job security as she honoured him at Disney’s Legends ceremony on Sunday.

During the D23 fan expo in California, The Terminator director was made a Disney Legend alongside stars including Harrison Ford, Miley Cyrus and Angela Bassett.

After a video message from Titanic actress Kate Winslet, Saldana took to the stage and thanked Cameron for making her a part of his long-running Avatar franchise.

“I thank you for giving me the best gift a director can give an actor: job security. I’m going to be collecting my pension by the time the last Avatar movie is in theatres,” Saldana joked, reports Variety. “Working with you has been a wild ride. Your passion, your dedication and your eye for detail are truly unmatched. But beyond all that, I thank you for making me laugh, for making me cry and for making me blue.”

The Avatar series, in which Saldana plays a member of the blue-skinned Na’vi people, is expected to conclude with a fifth film in 2031. Cameron is currently in post-production on the third entry, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is due for release in 2025.

In his acceptance speech, the Aliens director praised his collaborators.

“You’re only as good as the artists that you can gather around you,” he said. “I know that my job every day, when I come in is to empower and encourage the other artists, whether they’re actors, whether they’re design or concept artists, computer animators, to inspire them to bring their best artistic selves every single day. That’s my job.”

He then took a moment to remember his producing partner of 30 years, Jon Landau, who passed away on 5 July aged 63.

“All of us in the Avatar family miss him dearly. We make it our goal to carry on his legacy as the unsung Disney Legend himself,” Cameron stated.

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