It’s safe to say that Avatar is a mega sci-fi franchise after The Way of Water earned over $2 billion worldwide 13 years after the original, becoming the third highest-grossing movie of all time globally. After last year’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora video game allowed fans to fulfill their Na’vi fantasies, it’s time to start anticipating Avatar 3, now known as Avatar: Fire and Ash.
While the plans to expand the Avatar universe have been in the works for roughly 15 years now, with Disney now in charge of running 20th Century Studios and its trove of science fiction IPs – which includes Planet of the Apes, Alien, and Predator too – things are getting much more ambitious. In fact, a massive ‘Avatar Land’, similar to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, was announced earlier this year.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is coming in 2025 and there are two further sequels planned. As it stands, Avatar 4 is set for December 21, 2029, and Avatar 5 should wrap the five-part saga on December 19, 2031.
Before venturing into the harsher parts of Pandora, make sure to check out our guides to the most striking Avatar spaceships, vehicles, and creatures of the two Avatar movies released so far. We’ll keep them updated in the future.
Avatar: Fire and Ash release date
Avatar: Fire and Ash is currently scheduled to release on December 19, 2025. That’ll be almost three years to the day since The Way of Water took us back to Pandora.
Just like The Way of Water, we expect it to exclusively release in cinemas across the globe, and stay a theatrical exclusive for months before eventually hitting VOD, Disney Plus, and the physical home market.
What is the plot of Avatar: Fire and Ash?
While we don’t have a basic plot summary, much has already been teased about the next chapter in Jake Sully, Neytiri, and their family’s story.
To quickly recap before dishing out what we know: Earth is rapidly dying, so the RDA-led humans are now planning to make Pandora their new home, which means even more trouble for the natives and wildlife of Polyphemus’ moon. The Sullys fled to the oceanic parts of Pandora after Miles Quaritch – now a Recom – and his blue soldiers were tasked with rooting out the main Na’vi resistance group, which is also helped by rogue humans. After one massive battle, Quaritch was defeated, most of his soldiers were killed, and the Metkayina Clan scored one big win. But that was just the start of the incoming war for the fate of Pandora, and the Sullys lost their oldest son: Neteyam.
According to James Cameron himself, things are getting tougher for the Sullys in the upcoming sequels, starting with a blurrier definition of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in Fire and Ash: “The fire will be represented by the Ash People. I want to show the Na’vi from another angle because, so far, I have only shown their good sides.”
The filmmaker, who considers this massive saga the culmination of all his work over the decades, has also been teasing that things will only get messier and deeper as the story evolves and more characters come into play:
“We're seeing new cultures, new creatures—all the same stuff you'd expect from an Avatar movie, but the whole idea of this cycle of films is to live with these people and go on this epic journey with them. So I think it's not about, ‘We're going to show you the best water [VFX] ever done’—but you get more into the heart and soul of the characters. And there's some very interesting new characters that come in as well. This is a journey over time. It will play out through movie three, into movie four and movie five. There's an epic cycle to the whole thing,” he told GQ in late 2023.
D23 2024 brought news in the shape of a title reveal for Avatar 3 plus some concept art pieces that teased all-new creatures, vehicles, locales, and even the aforementioned ‘bad Na’vi’ that will seemingly give both the Sullys and the human invaders a lot of trouble. We know that Varang, played by Oona Chaplin, leads this new clan of Na’vi, but we’ve yet to learn how she and her people factor into the plot. Back in 2017, we also learned that Quaritch would have a key role across all the sequels, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only villain around. In fact, The Way of Water’s General Ardmore and certified Tulkun hater Captain Mick Scoresby are expected to return as well.
Avatar: Fire and Ash trailers
No trailers have been released yet for Avatar: Fire and Ash beyond the small preview shown to D23 2024 attendees.
If the successful marketing campaign for the second movie was any indication, our first look at Avatar 3 should arrive in late spring or early summer 2025, probably attached to a major Disney release such as Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts. But that’s just informed speculation on our part.
We’ll be keeping this piece updated with teasers, trailers, and other looks at the sci-fi epic as they’re released to the public. Yes, we’re as anxious to see more as you are.
Avatar: Fire and Ash cast
Avatar: Fire and Ash’s cast will once again be stacked with old and new faces. While we’ve yet to learn about the full roster of actors, there are plenty confirmed to show up: Sam Worthington (Jake Sully), Zoe Saldaña (Neytiri), Sigourney Weaver (Kiri), Britain Dalton (Lo’ak), Jack Champion (Spider), and Trinity Jo-Li Bliss (Tuk) remain the core of the difficult and troubled Sully family.
They’re joined by Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore, Brendan Cowell as Captain Mick Scoresby, Matt Gerald as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, Kate Winslet as Ronal, Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, Bailey Bass as Tsireya, Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin, and last but not least, Oona Chaplin as Varang, among others.
We also know that David Thewlis (The Sandman, Kaos) and Michelle Yeoh (Star Trek: Section 31, Everything Everywhere All At Once) are locked to appear in future movies, but the word is they won’t factor in until Avatar 4.
Avatar: Fire and Ash director, writers, and crew
James Cameron is directing the third movie – and reportedly will handle 4 and 5 as well unless he gets “hit by a bus”.The script was written by himself and the writing duo of Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), who also co-penned the second installment.
Russell Carpenter (Titanic) is handling the cinematography once again, with Simon Franglen composing the original music after taking over from the late James Horner for Avatar: The Way of Water. David Branner, Nicolas de Toth, John Refoua, and Stephen E. Rivkin are credited as co-editors on the threequel alongside Cameron himself.
Cameron and Jon Landau (who sadly passed away in summer 2024) serve as producers on Fire and Ash and all other Avatar installments – with 4 and 5 only waiting to be shot – through Lightstorm Entertainment. 20th Century Studios and Disney are handling the distribution.
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