“Avatar: Fire and Ash ”Trailer Shows Fiery Vision of Pandora in Explosive, Emotional First Footage

NEED TO KNOW

• The trailer for James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash hit the internet on Monday, July 28, after debuting in theaters over the weekend with The Fantastic Four: First Steps

• Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña reprise their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri, while the new movie introduces a new Na'vi antagonist named Varang

• Avatar: Fire and Ash is in theaters Dec. 19

James Cameron is introducing new characters — and new drama — for his third movie on planet Pandora.

On Monday, July 28, the first trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash debuted online after moviegoers first saw the teaser in theaters ahead of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The trailer introduces Avatar fans to a new biome within the planet and its inhabitants, the Mangkwan Clan, a.k.a. the Ash Clan, who live near an active volcano. The group is led by a new character named Varang (Oona Chaplin), who appears to develop an antagonistic relationship with series leads Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña ) and their children.

Cameron and Disney originally announced Fire and Ash's title at Disney's D23 fan event on Aug. 9, 2024. The movie arrives three years after 2022's The Way of Water, which first introduced Avatar fans to Kate Winslet's character Ronal and Cliff Curtis' Tonowari.

In March, Cameron confirmed that the new Avatar movie "will actually be a little bit longer than" The Way of Water, even though the second installment already ran for 3 hours and 12 minutes. While speaking with Empire in January, Cameron revealed that Fire and Ash's conflicts will not feel as "black-and-white simplistic" as the series' first two movies.

“We’re trying to evolve beyond the ‘all humans are bad, all Na’vi are good’ paradigm,” he said at the time.

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At CinemaCon 2025 in April, Oscar-winner Saldaña added that Fire and Ash will introduce a second new clan called the wind traders, whom she described as "a peaceful, nomadic air-traveling clan," as well as the Ash People, whom Saldaña said have "forsaken" the Na'vi god.

Footage shown of the movie at CinemaCon implies that Fire and Ash picks up just moments after The Way of Water ended with the death of Neytiri and Jake's eldest son Neteyem.

Returning cast members for Fire and Ash also include Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Edie Falco and Jack Champion. David Thewlis also joins the cast.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is in theaters Dec. 19.

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