The wait is almost over, with a stunning new trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash promising franchise fans a dark new chapter in the saga.
Set for release on 19 December, the third instalment of James Cameron’s Avatar series returns to Pandora with a new tribe of Na’vi: the Mangkwan Clan, also known as the Ash People, reports the Los Angeles Times. Little is known about the Mangkwan or their leader Varang, played by Oona Chaplin.
“Varang is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She’s hardened by that,” Cameron told Empire in an interview published in January. “She will do anything for them, even things that we would consider to be evil.” That certainly appears to be the case, as she faces down Sigourney Weaver’s Kiri with a snarling, “Your goddess has no dominion here.”
First unveiled at CinemaCon in April, the nearly two-and-a-half-minute trailer began appearing exclusively in theatres last week ahead of another Disney title, The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
“You’ll see a lot more Pandora that you never saw before,” Cameron said at the 2024 D23 Expo, before treating attendees to the first short teaser. The filmmaker promised “an insane adventure and a feast for the eyes” with higher emotional stakes than ever before. “We’re going into really challenging territory for all the characters you know and love.”
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Weaver is far from the only member of the star-studded cast returning for the third film, joined by Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang, and more. Chaplin joins the cast along with British actor David Thewlis, who plays one of the nomadic Wind Traders.
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once star Michelle Yeoh, who joined the Avatar cast for the second instalment, was misreported as being in the third. Yeoh will not return to Pandora until 2029 with the next part in the series.
The fourth and fifth instalments of the Avatar saga are slated for release in 2029 and 2031, respectively. If that four-year-wait feels interminable, remember that fans of the original films waited 13 years for the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).
