Avatar 3: Fire and Ash Movie Preview

The epic adventures of Pandora continue: in December 2025, we can look forward to the highly anticipated sequel to James Cameron's sci-fi film series "Avatar". To help shorten the waiting time a little, there keep being interesting updates on the action spectacle. So this video will bring you up to date with the latest details!

Cast

The cast of "Avatar 3" is known for the most part. In addition to familiar characters from the first two movies, new ones will also play a major part. James Cameron revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that each film will introduce the audience to new clans and cultures from Pandora. Once introduced, the characters will remain part of the narrative.

The Sully Family

Of course, the Sully family is once again at the heart of the story. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana slip back into their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri. Their children Lo'ak and Tuktirey are back as well, played by Britain Dalton and Trinity Jo-Li Bliss. Their foster children Kiri and Spider are also back. Kiri is once again played by Sigourney Weaver and Spider by Jack Champion. Spider in particular can be expected to play a bigger role in the new movie. After the events of part 2, there's likely to be some conflict of interest after all.

The Ash People

Anyone who thought that Stephen Lang's Miles Quaritch would once again be the main antagonist has meanwhile been taught otherwise. In fact, "Game of Thrones" actress Oona Chaplin will take on the role of the antagonist Varang. Varang is the leader of the Ash People, who are known to be dangerous and belligerent. A character named Peylak likewise belongs to the Ash People. He is played by none other than "Harry Potter" star David Thewlis.

Evil and Na'vi: how does that fit together? According to director James Cameron, in the third part he wants to show that not every human is necessarily bad and not every Na'vi is necessarily good. That's why he introduces the Ash People, a tribe that is brutal and martial in contrast to the other known clans. They literally serve to add more shades of gray to the previous black-and-white narrative.

Director James Cameron went into more detail about the Ash People in an interview with "20 Minutes France". The clan is closely linked to the element of fire and is characterized by anger and bitterness caused by the destruction of their homeland as a result of volcanic eruptions.

The Humans

Nevertheless, Miles Quaritch will continue to play a part in the film. Actor Matt Gerald has also announced via Instagram that he will be back in his role as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet. In "The Way of Water", he went overboard in a fight and was no longer seen. Now we have the clarification that he is still alive. We will also get to see General Frances Ardmore again, played by Edie Falco. Also set to return are whale hunter Mick Scoresby, RDA leader Parker Selfridge and scientist Dr. Ian Garvin.

The Wind Traders

With the Wind Traders, we are presented with a second new tribe. These nomadic traders travel Pandora on fascinating flying creatures and, according to Cameron, are reminiscent of old camel caravans on the Silk Road. First concept images of the traders have already been published.

Other Parties

The Metkayina sea people will appear in the third part as well. This means that we will see the family of chiefs around Tonowari and Ronal again, played by Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet. Payakan will also be back. The Tulkun whale bonded with Lo'ak in the second part and the two have a close relationship. In addition, CCH Pounder will make a return as Neytiri's mother Mo'at. Contrary to initial reports, however, we will have to wait until "Avatar 4" for a particular addition to the cast of scientists: "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star Michelle Yeoh will then take on the role of Dr. Karina Mogue.

New Worlds in Avatar 3

Work on "Avatar 3" is making great progress and the first details of the plot are already attracting a lot of interest. The late producer Jon Landau revealed in an interview before the release of "Avatar: The Way of Water" that the third part will not only introduce new clans, but will also explore as yet unknown biomes - an approach that also involves technical challenges, similar to the underwater world in the second part. We are of course expecting fiery scenes in extraordinary volcanic landscapes.

There was also some talk of so-called "new worlds" in Part 3. This raises the intriguing question of whether this also refers to areas outside of Pandora. According to cinematographer Russell Carpenter, however, there will once again be extensive underwater scenes.

Storyline

At present, we can only speculate about the concrete story of "Avatar: Fire and Ash". Many fans suspect that Quaritch could be trying to win over the resentful Ash People for an alliance against the remaining Na'vi. At the same time, Kiri, who showed a special connection to her mother Grace and Eywa in the second part, is likely to have a key role to play. Her ability to control other living beings could indicate that she might act as a kind of spiritual leader or even messiah of the Na'vi in the coming parts. Clues to this were already dropped in the finale of "Avatar: The Way of Water", when she saved her family from death.

Production

By the time "Avatar: The Way of Water" was released in cinemas at the end of 2022, filming for the third part was already about 95% complete. Even the first act of "Avatar 4" had already been shot. But as we all know, filming is only a fraction of the work - the elaborate post-production with countless animated details is the actual mammoth task. This is why the theatrical release of "Avatar 3" has been postponed from December 2024 to December 19, 2025. Of course, that's nothing compared to the 13 years between parts 1 and 2.

The question regarding the running time has meanwhile been clarified. All moviegoers will need to have a strong bladder: The first movie already ran for 2 hours and 42 minutes and the second movie was a whopping 3 hours and 10 minutes long. The third movie tops that once more and is supposed to be 2 minutes longer. But hey: that's still significantly shorter than the raw version of the story that was filmed, which is said to be an astonishing 9 hours long. Needless to say, it will not be released in this form in theaters. But since "Avatar" is a project close to Cameron's heart, he is shooting all the scenes he wants, even if he has to cut out many of them later.

There have since been rumors that a full version could be released in the form of an "Avatar" series on Disney+ after the premiere of the film. Cameron has denied this in an interview, but it would still be fascinating to discover which ideas did not make it into the movie version.

Our Opinion

That's all the latest information on "Avatar 3: Fire & Ash". You may have already noticed that we're excited by every new detail about the blockbuster. Because regardless of whether you particularly like the movies or not, their importance for cinema cannot be underestimated. The first part in 2009 became the most successful movie of all time - which is almost typical of James Cameron - and made 3D technology popular in movie theaters worldwide. "The Way of Water" proved in 2022 that this was not just by chance: the film currently ranks third in global box office takings with over 2.3 billion dollars. Of course, after 13 years, there was a lot of curiosity as to what the sequel was all about. "Avatar 3" is likely to find it a little more difficult: By now, more people will have a strong opinion as to whether they want to continue following the film series.

However, we have no doubts that the new movie will also do well at the box office. James Cameron knows what he's doing and will certainly not disappoint with the new people, landscapes, machines and creatures. In fact, the visual effects will once again push the boundaries of what is possible.

In the end, the story alone will probably have the biggest influence on how the movie is rated by viewers. We are a little worried that the project could become too big at some point: Despite a longer running time, the story risks losing its focus if new characters are added with each movie. But who knows, maybe Cameron will surprise us and take several characters out of the game at once? Tragic events would certainly be nothing new for the series.

We are particularly looking forward to the Ash People: with their greed and ignorance, the human bad guys have so far been relatively simple. But the Ash People could demonstrate to us that even the proud tribal culture of the Na'vi has its downsides - and how bitterness or despair can lead to evil deeds. After all, the Na'vi were not entirely peaceful in Parts 1 and 2, but for the new film, we are really hoping for spectacular battles without human involvement.

Either way, we hope to be able to present you with more than detailed concept images soon. Get the KinoCheck app to make sure you don't miss any news or even a first trailer for "Avatar 3"!