Avatar 3-Fire and Ash

Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.

Bria Thorley • November 3, 2025

The film Avatar:

Fire and Ash is the third movie in James Cameron’s Avatar series, a sequel to Avatar: The Way of Water. Cameron directed the science fiction film and co-wrote the screenplay. The cast features returning actors such as Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, and Kate Winslet. Originally after the success of the first Avatar, the sequel was subject to significant delays due to the addition of more films and the development of new performance technology. Filming for Avatar: Fire and Ash began simultaneously with the second film in September 2017 and was completed in late December 2020. After nine theatrical release delays, the movie is currently scheduled to premiere in the United States on December 19, 2025.

Historic film achievement:

Fire and ash could compete in the best motion picture drama category at the 2026 golden globes, neither the first or second movie where nominated making this a bigger milestone, with this the movies could reach a higher artistic recognition

Did you know:

According to James Cameron, the Avatar sequels were such a massive undertaking that he divided the three scripts between the writing team of Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. Cameron delves further explaining the story process: “I think we met for seven months and we white boarded out every scene in every film together, and I didn’t assign each writer which film they were going to work on until the last day. I knew if I assigned them their scripts ahead of time, they’d tune out every time we were talking about the other movie.”

The running time:

In an interview James Cameron hinted the movie could be up to 3 hours and 30 minutes long

Development:

James Cameron confirmed the sequels to Avatar in early 2010 due to the first film’s success, initially scheduling them for 2014 and 2015. He planned to shoot them back-to-back and film them at a higher frame rate than the industry standard. The sequels were confirmed to follow the central characters, Jake and Neytiri, with humans returning as the likely antagonists. Cameron later announced that production would take place in New Zealand, with an agreement that included a minimum spend of NZ$500 million and required a tax rebate from the New Zealand government. Over time, the scope expanded, and the number of planned sequels grew to four. The official title was finally announced as Avatar: Fire and Ash at the D23 fan convention in August 2024.

Writing:

The screenplay was co-written by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno, with the writing process being complex before scripts were finalized. Cameron explained that the story for Fire and Ash was split off from the original conception of Avatar: The Way of Water because it contained too much material, which would have compromised character development. The film’s subtitle, Fire and Ash, represents a “vicious cycle,” with fire symbolizing hatred, anger, and violence, and ash symbolizing the aftermath, grief, and loss. A major creative goal for this installment is to move beyond the “black-and-white simplistic” paradigm by exploring “Ash People” a fiery, aggressive Na’vi culture and introducing Wind Traders, a nomadic Na’vi trading group. The story is expected to introduce new cultures and creatures, while providing greater character depth as part of the overarching epic cycle that continues into the later films.

Casting:

Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña were confirmed early on to reprise their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri. Key returning cast members include Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, who will be the main antagonist across all four sequels, and Sigourney Weaver, who returns in the new role of Kiri, Jake and Neytiri’s adopted daughter. Matt Gerald (Corporal Lyle Wainfleet) and Dileep Rao (Dr. Max Patel) are also returning. Noteworthy additions to the cast include Kate Winslet as Ronal of the Metkayina clan and Oona Chaplin as Varang, the leader of the Ash People clan. David Thewlis was also cast in a Na’vi role named Peylak, starting with Fire and Ash.

Filming:

Principal photography for both Avatar: The Way of Water and Fire and Ash began simultaneously in September 2017 in California. Performance capture with the main cast was completed by November 2018. Live action filming for the sequels began in New Zealand in early 2019. Production faced a setback in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the crew, including James Cameron and producer Jon Landau, were granted special visas to return to New Zealand in June 2020 to resume filming after a supervised isolation period. By September 2020, Cameron announced that 95% of Avatar: Fire and Ash was complete, with filming officially wrapping in December 2020. As of early 2024, Cameron confirmed the film was “pretty much in the can,” with just a small percentage of live-action and performance capture pick-ups remaining, while the massive job of Visual Effects (VFX) is currently underway for the film’s December 2025 release.