The next installment in James Cameron’s fantasy epic, Avatar, is coming soon. Ahead of the Dec. 19 debut of Avatar: Fire and Ash, Oscar-winning actor Zoe Saldana is revealing why the franchise is still politically relevant.
In an exclusive interview with CBR’s Grae Drake, Saldana, who is reprising her Neytiri role in Fire and Ash, talked about shooting the film over a long period of time. It’s been three years since the last Avatar movie, Avatar: The Way of Water, was released back in 2022. Drake asked Saldana: “How do these [movies] keep getting more timely, more gorgeous?”
“Oh, for sure,” Saldana said. “I feel like I’ve gone somewhere. A lot has happened. A lot has happened, and it takes a long time to shoot these films. And the level of dedication that Jim [Cameron] has, and he compels us all to be a part of something even though we have to wait for it,” she added, revealing she has seen the final version of Fire and Ash.
“It’s so special and so meaningful for us. When I saw the movie – I saw it two days ago – what we were experiencing was so powerful, you know. This, the sense of loss, the experience of losing, and especially bearing a child, is unthinkable. It’s unimaginable. And I had Sam [Worthington] next to me, going through it with me, and me going through it with him. Because it was also, you know, he, as Jake, as a father, lost something so dear to him and Jim as well,” she said.
Saldana credited Cameron’s direction for creating “like the safety net for us to be able to allow ourselves to go there for the sake of Neytiri and Jake. And what we’re going to discover in this film is the resilience of the Sully children, how much they are inherently Neytiri and Jake. And they’ve been raising them well, and these kids will guide their parents back to each other, to the family, to the Purpose of Eywa to all of it.”
Zoe Saldana on how Privilege Plays a Part in Fire and Ash
20th Century Studios
Saldana also acknowledged some of the political aspects of Fire and Ash, saying, “I don’t want to make this a political conversation, but you know, we all are understanding what it’s like for we are all understanding our privilege.”
“If you are in a position where you get to wake up every day and go to work peacefully and come home in one piece, and your children come home from school and their lives were not threatened, and your wife or your husband comes home and they are okay, and your parents are ok, then you are privileged,” Saldana continued.
She added, “Privilege is no longer money and richness and success and the collection of material things. It’s getting to live another day alive without experiencing some kind of conflict that has nothing to do with you and yet completely destroys your world and your life. It’s getting to lie another day alive without experiencing some kind of conflict that has nothing to do with you and yet completely destroys your world and your life. And we are seeing that around the world. My heart goes out to all of it, and I feel like I wake up every day with a broken heart and and if it wasn’t for the fact that I get to be a part of stories that inspire people, that make people feel seen, that make people feel that they matter, that inspire people to heal.”
Saldana also shared her hopes of what people get out of watching Fire and Ash. “My hope for for Fire and Ash is that, [one] families are able to go together, people are able to go together and connect as strangers in a big room in an IMAX theater and watch it and and laugh and cry and be taken for an adventure, and people are inspired to still continue believing in each other, because I think it’s important,” she concluded.
Avatar: Fire and Ash, from director James Cameron and writers Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, and Cameron, also stars Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver, and Edie Falco. The film hits theaters on Dec. 19.
Release Date
December 19, 2025
Runtime
195 Minutes
Director
James Cameron
Sam Worthington
Jake Sully
Stephen Lang
Colonel Miles Quaritch