In 2009, filmmaker James Cameron released the groundbreaking film Avatar, which made history by being the first film to surpass the remarkable milestone of $2 billion at the box office. After a lengthy gap of thirteen years, the anticipation surrounding the sequel was immense, with questions swirling about its potential to replicate the original’s astonishing success. However, Avatar: The Way of Water did just that, achieving over $2 billion in earnings, thereby setting the stage for not only Avatar 3, titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is set for release on December 19, 2025, but also paving the way for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, scheduled for December 21, 2029 and December 19, 2031, respectively. While we will eventually explore the details of the fourth and fifth installments, they remain a considerable time away. For now, let’s delve into what we know about the much-anticipated film Avatar: Fire and Ash.
INSIGHT INTO THE PRODUCTION OF AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH
The journey of creating Avatar sequels began long before the original film graced the silver screen. Initially, James Cameron envisioned a trilogy, but as the development process unfolded, his ambitions expanded, leading to a plethora of sequels. Collaborating with a dynamic writers’ room that included Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno, the creative vision blossomed, resulting in plans for multiple sequels. The original timeline projected the second and third films to debut in December 2014 and 2015, but filming did not commence until September 2017. During this period, Cameron skillfully filmed scenes not only for Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash but also for Avatar 4. After a rigorous three-year filming process, which faced interruptions due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, production on these films concluded in late December 2020. Notably, since the second and third films were filmed simultaneously, the third installment was set for release regardless of the box office performance of Avatar: The Way of Water. The success of the latter instilled Cameron with renewed confidence to finalize the third film, leading to an official greenlight from Disney for both the fourth and fifth installments. Cameron enthusiastically promises fans, “Five’s better than four, four’s better than three, and three’s better than two.”
So far, details about the upcoming sequels reveal that Avatar: Fire and Ash will introduce the formidable Ash People, a villainous faction of the Na’vi, while Avatar 4 is expected to “go nuts in a good way” and Avatar 5 will explore a journey back to Earth.
The title Avatar: Fire and Ash holds significant meaning, as Cameron elaborated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly: “It took a long time to come up with a title that I felt resonated with what’s in the film. I don’t think I could say too much about it until you actually see the film and you see what it means, but if you think of fire as hatred, anger, violence, that sort of thing, and ash is the aftermath. So what’s the aftermath? Grief, loss, right? And then what does that cause in the future? More violence, more anger, more hatred. It’s a vicious cycle. So that’s the thinking. I think it goes to darker places than the previous ones did, but it’s still obviously this open, glorious, grand adventure, which is what we aspire to do every time we set out. But we’re not afraid to go into the dark places of our characters, which I think is also good. I think that’s also what people really feel they want when they get to know a character well, either through a series or whatever it is that they follow. They want to know more. They want to know more about them, find out what their limits are, so to speak. And we do that.”
CASTING AND SCRIPT DETAILS FOR AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH
The ensemble cast of Fire and Ash features Sam Worthington reprising his role as Jake Sully, the former human who fell in love with the Na’vi Neytiri and permanently transferred his consciousness into his Na’vi avatar. Zoe Saldaña returns as Jake’s wife, Neytiri; Sigourney Weaver portrays Kiri, a Na’vi child who was adopted by Jake and Neytiri; Stephen Lang reprises his role as Colonel Miles Quaritch, a former human military commander who meets his demise and is resurrected as an avatar recombinant; Giovanni Ribisi returns as Parker Selfridge, the former head administrator for the RDA mining operation; Kate Winslet plays the role of the pregnant Na’vi free diver Ronal; Cliff Curtis portrays Tonowari, the chieftain of the Na’vi clan Metkayina; Joel David Moore returns as former scientist Dr. Norm Spellman; CCH Pounder reprises her role as Neytiri’s mother, Mo’at; Edie Falco takes on the role of General Frances Ardmore, Quaritch’s successor as commander of the RDA military operations; Brendan Cowell plays Captain Mick Scoresby, the former commander of a private sector marine hunting vessel; Jemaine Clement is cast as marine biologist Dr. Ian Garvin; Britain Dalton plays Lo’ak, the son of Jake and Neytiri; Trinity Jo-Li Bliss portrays Tuktirey (“Tuk”), their daughter; Jack Champion plays Miles “Spider” Socorro, the teenage son of Quaritch raised by Jake and Neytiri; Bailey Bass takes on the role of Tsireya (“Reya”), Ronal’s daughter and Lo’ak’s love interest; Filip Geljo plays Ao’nung, Ronal’s son; Duane Evans, Jr. portrays free diver Rotxo; Dileep Rao reprises his role as Dr. Max Patel, a scientist involved in the avatar program; Matt Gerald returns as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, a mercenary who has also been resurrected as an avatar recombinant; David Thewlis will portray a Na’vi named Peylak; and Oona Chaplin plays Varang, the leader of the “aggressive, volcanic race” identified as the Ash People. Producer Jon Landau remarked, “There are good humans and there are bad humans. It’s the same thing on the Na’vi side. Oftentimes, people don’t see themselves as bad. What is the root cause of how they evolve into what we perceive as bad? Maybe there are other factors there that we aren’t aware of.” Moreover, the space-whale / Tulkun named Payakan is set to return.
As previously noted, the film will introduce a significant internal conflict within the Na’vi society, particularly with the non-peaceful tribe known as the Ash People. Cameron shared with Variety, “I want to show the Na’vi from another angle because, so far, I have only shown their good sides. In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples. In Avatar 3, we will do the opposite. We will also explore new worlds, while continuing the story of the main characters. I can say that the last parts will be the best. The others were an introduction, a way to set the table before serving the meal.”
When Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were assigned to script Avatar: The Way of Water, they discovered they had an overwhelming amount of material—so much that they ultimately decided to divide the story into two films, resulting in Avatar: Fire and Ash. Silver elaborated to Variety, “From the beginning, one of the challenges — I’ll say it was a delicious challenge — is that there was too much material.” Initially, they contemplated trimming the script, but Cameron believed that approach would diminish the story’s integrity. “Carrying this burden was always an issue in terms of getting the first act of that first movie moving, and there was just an enormous amount of material in there. So somewhere after we had started writing, [Cameron] called us up and he said, ‘Look, we’ve got too much material. We’re going to split it into two movies.’”
Silver also remarked to Empire, “The characters needed to breathe. These movies are a lot more than just propulsive plot and gorgeous spectacle. I mean, these are real characters.” In fact, many characters are influenced by the writers’ own experiences. Cameron expressed, “These characters are amalgams of us, our childhoods, our role as parents, the mistakes we made, and probably to some extent continue to make as parents. I mean, Jake is a hard-ass motherf*cker. He’s very hard on his kids. Well, that’s me.” Furthermore, the dynamic between Lo’ak and Neteyam in The Way of Water draws inspiration from Jaffa’s relationship with his older brother.
The younger cast members played a crucial role in Cameron’s decision to film the sequels simultaneously. He explained to Entertainment Weekly that without concurrent filming, “you get – and I love Stranger Things – but you get the Stranger Things effect where they’re supposed to still be in high school [but] they look like they’re 27. You know, I love the show. It’s okay, we’ll suspend disbelief. We like the characters, but, you know.” For instance, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss was only about 7 years old when she was initially cast as Tuk, while she was 13 at the time of The Way of Water release. Similarly, Jack Champion, who was cast as Spider at age 12, turned 18 by the film’s launch.
While Jake Sully has been the primary narrator in both Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, the narrative voice will shift in the upcoming film. In a discussion on Soundtracking With Edith Bowman, Cameron revealed that the narration in the next sequel will be through the perspective of Jake and Neytiri’s son, Lo’ak. He stated, “Lo’ak really emerged as a character that people went with. … Jake was our voiceover narrator for movie one and for movie two, and we have a different narrator for each of the subsequent films. We see it through the eyes of a different character. Movie three is through Lo’ak’s eyes.”
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Champion expressed his surprise regarding the plot of Avatar 3, stating, “I was very shocked by (the script for Avatar 3). It just takes a hard left turn, and that’s not a bad thing. You think you know where it’s going, but then a wrecking ball comes. So you’re completely like, ‘Oh wow, I never thought that would’ve happened.’ You also see more regions of Pandora, and you get introduced to more cultures. So I think it’s even better than Avatar: The Way of Water. Collectively, they’ll each get better.” Meanwhile, Saldaña hinted at the challenges ahead for the Sully family during a conversation with Deadline: “The way that we left the Sully family, they’re mourning heavily the loss of their child. So I do believe that that will carry out a great deal in the third installment of Avatar. Jake and Neytiri are on this journey of acceptance, of accepting who they are and what they must be for each other and how they’re going to push forward to keep their family safe. And I love the fact that in the core of this entire saga is a beautiful love story, and I love that Jim really wrote that for them. But it’s not going to be easy. They’re not always going to meet eye to eye, and I just hope that they keep each other safe. That’s my hope for them.”
In his conversation with Empire, James Cameron expressed that the third Avatar installment will feature “some really clever action set-pieces. You can get your blood up in this movie. But what excites me as an artist who recently turned 70 and has kind of done all that stuff is not only the opportunity to get to do it again, but to get to a level of character and intrigue you haven’t seen before in an Avatar movie. We’re just starting to riff on it and twist it and turn it. It’s a tricky thing. We could be getting high on our own supply here, and everybody who looks at it goes, ‘F*ck, that’s not what I signed up for.’ But if you’re not making brave choices, you’re wasting everybody’s time and money. That alone is not sufficient to create success, but it’s necessary. You’ve got to break the mould every fricking time.” Cameron further confirmed that the film will delve deeply into themes of grief, stating, (with gratitude to Screen Rant for sharing the quote from Empire), “The exact quote, which is in the voiceover, is, ‘The fire of hate gives way to the ash of grief.’ I think what commercial Hollywood doesn’t do well is deal with grief the way human beings really deal with it. You know, characters get killed off, and then in the next movie everybody’s happy again. I’ve lost a lot of people, friends and family members, over the last six or eight years, and it doesn’t work that way. It also doesn’t make you so mad that you’re going to become an army of one and gun up and kill all those motherfuers, which is another Hollywood trope. It makes you just kind of depressed and fued up. I’m not saying our movie’s depressed and fu**ed up, I’m just saying that I think we deal with that part of life quite honestly. The [Sullys] journey continues in a very naturalistic, novelistic way. I’ve sort of thought of this next cycle, meaning 3, 4 and 5, as how they continue to process the things that happen to them. Now, of course, they’re not human, but this is a movie for us, by us, right? Science-fiction is always just a big mirror of the human condition.”
EXPECTED RUNNING TIME FOR AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH
Not long ago, rumors circulated that Cameron had crafted an extensive nine-hour cut of Avatar: Fire and Ash, which he intended to condense into a feature-length film for theatrical release. Speculation suggested that this extended version could eventually make its way to the Disney+ streaming platform as a limited series. While further details on this possibility remain unconfirmed, Cameron has indicated that Avatar: Fire and Ash will indeed have a longer runtime than its predecessors.
The original Avatar boasted a substantial running time of 2 hours and 42 minutes, while Avatar: The Way of Water exceeded that, stretching to an impressive 3 hours and 12 minutes. In a discussion with Empire, Cameron explained, “In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie 2. The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren’t drilling down enough on character. So I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to split it.’” Consequently, he mentioned, “Movie 3 will actually be a little bit longer than movie 2.”
Regardless of the final running time, it is known that Cameron screened an unfinished version of Avatar: Fire and Ash for his wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, which left her emotionally charged for four hours. He recounted, “My wife watched the whole thing from end to end — she had kept herself away from it and I wasn’t showing her bits and pieces as we went along. She bawled for four hours. She kept trying to get her shit back together so she could tell me specific reactions, and then she’d just tear up and start crying again. Finally, I’m like, ‘Honey, I’ve got to go to bed. Sorry, we’ll talk about it some other time.’ She called the ball on Titanic and Avatar and Avatar 2. So I trust her heart on it.”
At the D23 Expo in Brazil in 2024, Disney showcased an array of stunning concept art for Avatar: Fire and Ash:
Additionally, Empire shared more captivating pieces of concept art:
Initially, we catch a glimpse of the Ash Clan. Cameron shared with Empire, “Varang (played by Oona Chaplin) is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She’s hardened by that. She will do anything for them, even things that we would consider to be evil. One thing we wanted to do in this film is not be black-and-white simplistic. We’re trying to evolve beyond the ‘all humans are bad, all Na’vi are good’ paradigm.” He also commended Chaplin’s portrayal, noting that she made her complex character “feel so real and alive.”
Next, we encounter the Wind Traders, who utilize massive creatures for aerial travel. Cameron described them as “nomadic traders, equivalent to the camel caravans of the Spice Road back in the Middle Ages. And you know, they’re just fun. Like all Na’vi, they live in a symbiosis with their creatures. If you’ve got any nautical blood in your veins, you’ll want to be on [their] ship.”
In early 2025, Cameron shared a video with attendees at the Las Vegas-based event CinemaCon to introduce Zoe Saldaña and preview clips from Avatar: Fire and Ash. He stated, “So sorry I can’t be there, but I’m in New Zealand, finishing up Avatar: Fire and Ash, which I think we can all agree is a good use of my time, considering this sucker is coming at us like a freight train on December 19,” Cameron remarked. “But I’m sending you guys a reel to give you a taste of the spectacle and new creatures and new cultures that our amazing artists have created, and a glimpse of the increased emotional heart of soul that our incredible cast has delivered.” He further teased that the “Sully family are really put through the ringer on this one as they face not only the human invaders, but new adversaries: the Ash People.” According to Cameron, the Ash People are Na’vi who have abandoned Eywa. Chris Bumbray from JoBlo described the sizzle reel, which was shown in 3D, as nothing short of incredible and claimed it surpassed the visual impact of the second film. Alongside the Ash People, the footage also introduced the Wind Traders, who ally with the Sully family and soar through the skies in balloon-like vessels. The narrative finds the Sully family still residing with the water tribe, but the plot takes a dark turn when Neytiri is attacked by a grey-skinned Na’vi adorned with red face paint, wielding fire. Another Na’vi plummets from the sky after being struck by a flaming arrow.
Following the release of an image showcasing an enraged Neytiri, Saldaña explained that her character is grappling with profound devastation after the loss of her son Neteyam in the second film. “That pain is seamlessly followed up on. And because it doesn’t really have anywhere to go, and doesn’t go away, rage can also come from it. [The Sullys] are going to be tested as a family. Not only would everything that’s happening compel her to question the bond she has with her husband, but also her bond with herself, her people, her land, and the way the Na’vi are. She’s going to question everything.“
Moreover, we are introduced to the menacing Quaritch and his estranged son Spider as they navigate their complex dynamic in the new film. Lang shared insights with Empire, stating, “They reconnect out of necessity. Their connection is not a solo connection. There are times when everybody comes together on some level. But, when enemies cooperate, you can be sure betrayal is just around the corner. … Spider confuses Quaritch. But Quaritch wants clarity. There is something about Spider that Quaritch really loves — not a word we associate with him. I think respect and admiration really develop in spades, as well as animosity and manipulation. The relationship will deepen — for better or worse.” Champion commented to Empire, “(Spider) feels very conflicted. His ‘dad’ is reborn into this Na’vi form and still as evil as ever, if not more so, and he still felt he had to save him. You see that guilt play out, and the evolution of Spider trying to figure out where he belongs.”
And that covers everything we currently know about Avatar: Fire and Ash… for now. As the December release date approaches, we anticipate a plethora of new information to emerge. Furthermore, the Avatar franchise has a promising future ahead, with two more sequels planned after this installment. Cameron has even hinted at potential ideas for Avatar 6 and 7, which will only be developed if there remains a strong demand for the franchise. “They’ll be just far enough apart that they remain events, hopefully, in the lives of fans, of people who want to follow us, but not so far apart that it’s like there’s a generational difference between one movie. We’re fortunate we survived that, right? We got over that hurdle. So now we believe it’s going to come at the right pacing.”
