James Cameron lifts the lid on Avatar 3: Fire and Ash
We're swapping water folks for Ash People and Wind Traders in the upcoming action epic
James Cameron has teased more information on the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in the $5 billion-plus big-screen spectacular series.
It sounds like we’re mixing up the elements this time around, with — as the same suggests — more of fire and air, rather than the water and lush greenery that has typified the look of Avatar’s world.
In an interview with Empire, Cameron talked up the Ash People and the Wind Traders, who will presumably be key factions in the film.
And, for once, it sounds like it won’t be a simple case of the Na’vi (the blue folks, for those who have forgotten their Avatar lore) versus the baddie-bad-bad humans.
“We're trying to evolve beyond the 'all humans are bad, all Na'vi are good' paradigm,” Cameron told the magazine.
"One thing we wanted to do in this film is not be black-and-white simplistic.”
What we don’t yet know is how the dynamic between the Ash Clan and the Wind Traders, and whoever else might feature, will play out.
Teasers we’ve had over the last couple of years suggest the Ash folks will have at least a streak of villainy to them. And they’re led by Varang.
"Varang is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She's hardened by that… She will do anything for them, even things that we would consider to be evil.”
The Ash People may be the shade that helps show the human faction in a better light in Avatar: Fire and Ash, then.
And by the sounds of it, the Wind Traders don’t have a bad Na’vi bone in their bodies.
“They’re nomadic traders, equivalent to the camel caravans of the Spice Road back in the Middle Ages,” says Cameron.
“They’re just fun. Like all Na’vi, they live in a symbiosis with their creatures. If you’ve got any nautical blood in your veins, you’ll want to be on [their] ship.”
While there’s a suggestion Avatar 3 may have a little more nuance in some areas, it does sound like Cameron’s tonal palette is still more lurid colour than shades of grey. And that works in both a thematic and visual sense.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is scheduled for release on December 19, 2025, and comes with ludicrously high box office expectations attached. 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water made $2.3 billion in cinemas, despite being released 13 years after the original, a $2.9 billion mega-hit.
There are even plans for Avatar 4 and 5, in 2029 and 2031 respectively. And Cameron says he’ll direct both unless he’s “hit by a bus” in the meantime. By the time Avatar 5 is out, assuming there are zero delays, he’ll likely be 77. But with Ridley Scott still banging out blockbusters like Gladiator II at 87, why not?