Avatar: Fire and Ash is the third movie in James Cameron’s phenomenally successful Avatar franchise. Set on the distant moon of Pandora, the series pits native Na’vi aliens against human colonists trying to mine their homeworld for its resources. Three movies in, the human agents of the Resources Development Administration (RDA) keep coming. So far, the Sully family has been able to fend them off, but for how long?
We’ll find out the answer when and if Cameron can go through with his five-movie plan for the story. A fourth movie is in pre-production already; in fact, Cameron already shot parts of it involving younger characters like Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), and Spider (Jack Champion). After an opening act that picks up shortly after the events of Fire and Ash, the plan is to jump forward in time eight years and catch up with those characters when they’re a bit older.
Sam Worthington will still be around as Sully family patriarch Jake Sully. During a visit to CBS Mornings, he hinted that the fourth Avatar film could change everything:
I’ve read them. I’m really lucky. I’ve read four and five, and four is my favorite, so hopefully we get to keep journeying. It completely changes the whole dynamic and the whole world.
Worthington’s words recall something that star Trinity Jo-Li Bliss said about Avatar 4 earlier this year:
We filmed a first little section of it, and that’s before this epic time jump, which is gonna really expand this story from the characters’ plans, ecosystems of Pandora, and it’s like…We barely touched the tip of the iceberg for what we know about this world and these characters and how deep they go.
It sounds like Cameron and company have big plans for Avatar 4. At the end of Avatar: Fire and Ash, the human Spider gains the ability to breathe the air on Pandora just like the Na’vi can. Perhaps the RDA finds a way to reverse-engineer that ability, which could change the balance of power on the moon. It’s possible the story could expand beyond Pandora, which would be a huge change. Or maybe the younger characters growing up and becoming the new leads is change enough, with characters like Jake and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) transitioning into supporting roles.
The only question is whether we’ll actually get to see any of it. Fire and Ash made nearly $1.5 billion at the box office, a huge success by any measure. But it also earned significantly less than the first two films, which made $2.9 and $2.3 billion, respectively. Fire and Ash cost around $400 million to make, a tremendous amount of money, and there’s pressure on Cameron and his collaborators to make the final two films for less.
Right now, Avatar 4 has a tentative release date of December 21, 2029. Hopefully that stays in place, but anything could happen.
Release Date
December 19, 2025
Runtime
197 Minutes
