James Cameron has returned with a vengeance — or rather, a volcanic eruption. The first full-length trailer for Avatar 3: Fire & Ash, the third film from James Cameron’s record-breaking sci-fi franchise, has now arrived online having debuted in cinemas last week. And it is every bit the fiery stunner that fans hoped for.
Slated for theatrical release December 19th, Fire & Ash follows the dramatic events of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their Na’vi-clan family, who witnessed the death of their daughter Neteyam in The Way of Water. Now, the stakes are raised as those terrible Salvos release — in every sense of the word.
The trailer unveils two fascinating additions to Pandora’s world — the Wind Traders and the Ash People. The Ash People, a fiery and battle-hardened Na’vi clan, are led by the commanding and fearsome Varang (Oona Chaplin), whose presence exudes both authority and raw intensity. Boasting vicious aerial battles, excruciating volcanic backdrops, and high drama, fans are already touting it as one of the most visually breathtaking trailers thus far this year. “It started too slow, but by the end — yup, James Cameron gets another billion,” wrote one viewer.
Adding to the turmoil is the reappearance of Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), this time marked by striking tribal warpaint and seemingly aligned with the fiery Ash People in their escalating conflict. The trailer hints at some dramatic showdowns, with a line of dialogue throwing doubt on Kiri (Sigourney Weaver): “Your goddess has no dominion here,” she is told while being held captive.
We do not have any official confirmation of the runtime yet, but Cameron said that Fire & Ash will be longer than The Way of Water’s 3 hours and 12 minutes. “Each time we went through the edit, we found that we had too many rich ideas to get into one movie,” he said of the decision to stretch the work.
Armed with an all-star cast and leverage from two of the top three highest grossing films of all time, Fire & Ash shapes up to be 2025’s ultimate movie event. With Cameron already established to be developing Avatar 4 and 5, it is obvious that there is still plenty left in this saga.
