Avatar 3 is almost here. In just a few weeks, we'll be returning to Pandora to reunite with Jake Sully and co. in the next sci-fi epic from visionary director James Cameron.
Officially titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, the movie will introduce us to the Ash People, a dangerous, new type of Na'vi associated with fire. That's not all we have to look forward to, either, with another two films in the series planned after the threequel. The future depends on the box office, though, so we'll have to wait and see what happens when the movie makes its bow later this month.
Below, you'll find everything you need to know about Avatar 3, including who's who in the cast, what's known about the plot, and much more besides. This is one of the most exciting upcoming movies of the year, so to get up to speed, keep it right here for the complete lowdown on Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Avatar: Fire and Ash release date
The Avatar: Fire and Ash release date is December 19, 2025.
That's three years after Avatar: The Way of Water, and 16 years after the first Avatar. The threequel has been delayed nine times total, pushed back 10 years from its original 2015 release date.
Before the third movie arrives in cinemas, Avatar: The Way of Water is re-releasing on the big screen from October 3, 2025, for one week only.
Avatar: Fire and Ash trailer
With the movie only a few months away, we finally got an Avatar: Fire and Ash first trailer on July 28, and it was as spectacular as we were expecting. The footage played exclusively before Fantastic Four screenings during the Marvel film's release weekend, but it was released only a few days later. You can watch it above.
In the trailer, we reunite with Jake and Neytiri's family, which seems more fractured than ever. Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are dealing with grief, but they will have to deal with planet-changing problems in Pandora. The images offer a glimpse into an incoming Na'vi war, where the "Ash People," a fire-based Na'vi clan also known as the Mangkwan Clan, will be key.
A second trailer, released in September (and which you can watch above), gives us a better insight into the tragic history of the Ash People and their disillusionment with the deity Eywa, as well as showing Pandora ablaze as Jake and Neytiri prepare for battle.
As of November 2025, the first footage from the movie has been released. The tense clip, which clocks in at just over a minute long, shows Spider, Tuk, Kiri, and Lo'ak being chased through the forest and into some dangerous-looking rapids by Varang and an army of Ash People. "What does dad always say?" Lo'ak asks Tuk. "Sullys stick together," she replies. "No, the other one," he presses. "Sullys never quit?" she asks. Bingo.
Avatar: Fire and Ash plot
The main thing we know about the Avatar: Fire and Ash plot is that we're going to be introduced to the Ash People, AKA the Mangkwan Clan. They're led by Varang, played by Oona Chaplin. "Varang is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She's hardened by that," director James Cameron told Empire magazine. "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," he added. "We're trying to evolve beyond the 'all humans are bad, all Na'vi are good' paradigm."
As for what that hardship might be, production designer Dylan Cole has dropped some hints. "[The Mangkwan] had a natural disaster befall them, and that sort of helped shape their culture," he told Empire. "So much of the world of Pandora is rich and vibrant and full of life – this is just the exact opposite. They used to live not too dissimilarly to the Omatikaya from Avatar 1." You can see the first look at the Mangkwan's Ash Village below.
The Mangkwan were originally going to be introduced in Avatar: The Way of Water, but they ultimately decided to leave it for the threequel.
"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.'," Cameron told Empire.
EXCLUSIVEIn #Avatar: Fire And Ash, we’ll be introduced to the Ash Village, the home of the Mangkwan Clan.“Pandora is rich and vibrant and full of life — this is just the exact opposite,” says production designer Dylan Cole.Read More: https://t.co/zDz3W17yae pic.twitter.com/EjJckQtOZPFebruary 10, 2025
Cameron also teased that the movie will go to some unexpected places. "We're just starting to riff on it and twist it and turn it," he told Empire. "It's a tricky thing. We could be getting high on our own supply here, and everybody who looks at it goes, 'Fuck, 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 mold every fricking time."
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro echoed this sentiment, revealing that he'd seen the third movie. "I know where it's going and I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people," he said.
Two of the stars of the film, Jack Champion and Trinity Bliss, have also watched Fire and Ash, and they walked out teary eyed.
The first clip from the film has also been unveiled, and it features an intense chase sequence.
The first look at Neytiri was unveiled by Empire magazine, with Cameron calling Zoe Saldaña "incandescent."
WORLD-FIRST 🔥Neytiri is ready to strike in the exclusive first still from #Avatar: Fire And Ash.Zoe Saldaña’s warrior is reeling from the death of her son Neteyam in the threequel. “That pain is seamlessly followed up on,” she tells Empire. “She’s going to question… pic.twitter.com/zQFebNZR2yMay 2, 2025
We can also expect the return of a familiar face (or should we say 'beak'?) from the first Avatar movie, as Jake is set to tap into his Toruk-riding abilities again. "Our Toruk is back [in Fire and Ash], right? You know, the big bird that Jake rides [in the climax of the first Avatar]," Cameron said. "I've always been waiting for the question, 'Why doesn't he just go get the big red bird and kill everybody like he used to do?' Because that doesn't exist in The Way of Water at all. I got a big scoop here. It didn't exist in Fire and Ash. And I went, 'Oh, he's got to go get the bird.' Come on! I was saving it for a later film. I was like, 'Fuck that! He should get the bird. Get the Toruk.'"
One thing it seems is for certain is that the movie won't contain any generative AI. An attendee at a Q&A event with Cameron in New Zealand shared the following on Twitter: "James Cameron revealed that Avatar: Fire and Ash will begin with a title card after the 20th Century and Lightstorm logos that 'no generative AI was used in the making of this movie'."
We also know that the length will be akin to The Way of Water, since Cameron has teased that the runtimes will be similar, but Avatar 3 is set to be a little bit longer. The latest reported runtime is 3 hours and 15 minutes long, which is three minutes longer than The Way of Water.
First reactions to the movie have been extremely positive, too, according to the director. "I've shown it to a few selected people and the feedback has been it's definitely the most emotional and maybe the best of the three so far," he told Stuff NZ. Plus, Disney CEO Bob Iger has called an early cut "absolutely breathtaking" and also defended it against other feedback.
There's still plenty more to come in Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, of course – but don't ask its stars to remember exactly what's in those movies' scripts just yet. "I haven't read Avatar 5 in seven or eight or nine years now, I have a folk memory of it," Miles Quaritch star Stephen Lang told GamesRadar+. "I know [Avatar 4] a bit better. But when you work on these things, you can get confused about what you know about; what happens and when it happens."
But, if Avatar: Fire and Ash doesn't make money, James Cameron is ready to walk away. "Absolutely," Cameron told The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast. "I've been in Avatar land for 20 years. Actually, 30 years, because I wrote it in '95, right, but I wasn't working continuously on it for those first 10 years. There was a brief flurry of interest in '95, and then everybody said, 'You're out of your mind,' and I shelved it for 10 years, and then we got serious in 2005. Yeah, absolutely. Sure, if this is where it ends, cool."
He might write a book to wrap up the story, though. "There is one open thread. I'll write a book, answer everybody's questions," he added.
So far, Avatar: Fire and Ash is tracking for a big domestic opening, but one that's below The Way of Water. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Avatar: Fire and Ash cast
The Avatar: Fire and Ash cast is a mix of returning actors and newcomers:
- Sam Worthington – Jake Sully
- Zoe Saldaña – Neytiri
- Sigourney Weaver – Kiri
- Britain Dalton – Lo'ak
- Trinity Jo-Li Bliss – Tuktirey
- Jack Champion – Spider
- Kate Winslet – Ronal
- Cliff Curtis – Tonowari
- Bailey Bass – Tsireya
- Filip Geljo – Ao'nung
- Duane Evans Jr. – Rotxo
- CCH Pounder – Mo'at
- David Thewlis – Peylak
- Oona Chaplin – Varang
- Joel David Moore – Dr. Norm Spellman
- Stephen Lang – Colonel Miles Quaritch
- Giovanni Ribisi – Parker Selfridge
- Edie Falco – General Frances Ardmore
- Brendan Cowell – Captain Mick Scoresby
- Jemaine Clement – Dr. Ian Garvin
- Dileep Rao – Dr. Max Patel
- Matt Gerald – Corporal Lyle Wainfleet
That's a wrap on Avatar: Fire and Ash. For more, check out our guide to this year's major upcoming movie release dates to fill out your watchlist.
