Avatar: The Way of Water brought an entirely new region of the planet Pandora to life, and so we can expect that when it comes to the remaining sequels, there will be still more new places to discover. Now, thanks to the digital release of the new Avatar movie, we have our first look at what some of these places will look like thanks to concept art.
The Digital release of Avatar: The Way of Water is packed with extra features and in one of them James Cameron is discussing the fact that Pandora, like earth, has numerous different biomes all over its surface. We then get a glimpse (via Discovering Pandora) of some of these regions, including the volcanic lands of the Ash People, the deserts of the Windtraders, as well as an arctic region.
FIRST LOOK at the Volcanic Region of the “Ash People” a villainous Na’vi clan from the upcoming Avatar 3, courtesy of The Way of Water Special Features!#Avatar #Avatar3 #AvatarSequels #AvatarAshPeople pic.twitter.com/khtw2YmT5nMarch 28, 2023
The Ash People of Pandora have already been teased by producer Jon Landau, and while we don’t know much about them, the expectation is that they will be antagonists in the story. We also know that they will make their (first?) appearance in Avatar 3, the movie that has already been shot as production was done right alongside The Way of Water.
The other peeks at the unseen parts of Pandora are a bit more nebulous. If the plan is for each sequel to focus on a different biome, the way Avatar 2 stayed mostly in the reef, then the desert and arctic regions could each be planned to be the location of the other two planned sequels.
FIRST LOOK at the Desert Region for the desert Na’vi the “Windtraders” that travel around Pandora, courtesy of A2 Extras!#Avatar #Avatar3 #AvatarSequels #AvatarRegions #Avatar2 pic.twitter.com/Sah0LmgUknMarch 28, 2023
The desert region of Pandora is something we haven’t heard a lot about, but the Windtraders, who travel around the planet trading with the other tribes of Na’vi, have been mentioned by Cameron. Windtraders is also the name of the primary gift shop in Pandora: The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, proving that Cameron has had many of these details set out from very early on.
FIRST LOOK at the Arctic Region from one of the upcoming Avatar Sequels, this is the one I am most excited for personally! Is that an inverse floating 🗻#Avatar #Avatar3 #Avatar2 #AvatarSequels pic.twitter.com/bZvwxLFosjMarch 28, 2023
The one region of Pandora that is the most mysterious is the arctic. We know the least about it or how it might play into the future of the Avatar franchise. To be fair, we don’t really know for certain how much of these concepts will even appear in the movies. It’s possible that some of the regions were conceived simply to fill out the story of Pandora. Just because the planet has an arctic region, doesn’t mean we’ll actually see it, though it seems likely that we will.
For what it’s worth, the early concept art we saw of Avatar 2 was a good representation of the movie we eventually got, and so it’s a safe bet that when we see these new places, they will likewise feel like the art brought to life. Of course, since two of the three remaining Avatar movies have yet to go into production, it could still be a long time before we actually see these parts of Pandora.