Warning: This article contains mild spoilers for 2025’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, now in theaters.Avatar: Fire and Ash star Oona Chaplin discusses how Varang has broadened her horizons and what this will mean for her character in future sequels. The franchise newcomer debuts as an additional villain in the third installment of James Cameron’s epic Avatar saga, which has always starred Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang.
In the third movie, Sam (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldaña) are grieving their eldest son, while recurring villain Quaritch (Lang) allies with Varang, the leader of the Na’vi Ash People. This clan was devastated by a natural disaster, and Varang became disillusioned with Eywa, the deity worshiped by most of the Na’vi peoples, and now leads with a much more hostile approach.
Though they could have perished in Avatar: Fire and Ash’s climactic final battle, Quaritch’s fate is ambiguous, while Varang does survive, leaving the door open for her to return in Avatar 4 and 5, which Cameron wants to make. In an interview with Gold Derby, Chaplin said: “I would have fought for Varang to stick around even if that wasn’t the case. […] Thankfully, it was already in the script, and I hope to keep playing her in Avatar 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 — however many we can do!”
Varang in Avatar Fire and Ash
Parts of Avatar 4 have been filmed, reportedly to account for a time jump and having the younger actors complete their scenes before they aged out of the roles, but Chaplin declines to say whether she is in any of this footage. Meanwhile, Chaplin believes “There’s an interesting evolution for the Ash People and what part they play in the greater arc of this Pandora epic.”
“I’m excited to keep exploring [Varang] … there are so many cool possibilities moving forward,” says the star. Chaplin also discussed how Varang’s worldview was changed in this installment; her ambitions have grown because of her partnership with Quaritch: “This film is her coming of age story […] In the beginning, she’s in fight or flight mode, and when you live like that, you can’t see beyond the thing that you’re looking at.”
“But then to have her horizons blown open by Quaritch, she sees that she can take on Eywa and the other Na’vi,” she says. Chaplin also addresses the deep pain that shaped Varang, which also may be further explored in the next Avatar movies: “Varang carries such a heavy load of trauma, which is good because she grows into her strength by harnessing the power of her weakness.”
In Avatar: Fire and Ash and likely in any sequels, Varang has an important thematic role to play, reflecting and differing from the main characters. Chaplin further says: “Fear is like gasoline to her, although she’d never admit it. In that way, she’s also like a warning for what happens when you let hatred become your coping mechanism. What happens when you let the fury take over?”
Release Date
December 19, 2025
Runtime
197 Minutes
