Varang (Oona Chaplin) in Avatar: Fire and Ash. All images: courtesy of Disney.

GRAB THE POPCORN, director James Cameron and Disney have dropped the first trailer for the latest instalment of the Avatar franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash. The gritty two-and-a-bit trailer reveals a harsher, more volatile Pandora and introduces a new clan of Na’vi, the Ash People, whose scorched terrain and warlike stance upend the saga’s previous themes of spiritual harmony.

Set to premiere in December 2025, the third cinematic chapter of the franchise sees the return of Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, caught between fracturing loyalties and rising threats. The Australian actor once again leads the narrative, this time through the volcanic badlands of the extrasolar moon, where smoke-drenched banshee riders and flame-wielding warriors mark a departure from the aquatic serenity of The Way of Water.

The movie sets a serious shift in tone and pace to the world of Pandora. Where the second film floated through bioluminescent coral forests, Fire and Ash charges into smoke and brimstone. Enter Oona Chaplin’s Varang, the formidable queen of the Ash People, who declares to Sigourney Weaver’s Kiri: “Your goddess has no dominion here.”

Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri.

Also returning is Brendan Cowell as Captain Mick Scoresby, further boosting Australia’s presence in the blockbuster ensemble alongside Worthington and fellow castmate Cliff Curtis. Their characters remain entangled in the wider conflict between the Na’vi clans and human colonists, led once again by a resurrected Recombinant Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who appears disturbingly aligned with the Ash People in the footage released so far.

Sam Worthington as Jake Sully.

Co-written by Cameron with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, the film continues to expand the Avatar mythology into something less utopian, more conflicted. As Worthington’s Sully pleads, “You can’t live like this, baby — in hate,” it’s clear the series is pushing into deeper emotional territory.

Stephen Lang as Quaritch.

Whether this third instalment can balance spectacle with narrative substance remains to be seen. There’s also the assumption of financial success. After the record-breaking run its predecessor, The Way of Water, had at the box office, the up-tops will no doubt be watching intently to see if this newest foray into Pandora’s landscapes will return with similar fruit.

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