James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” is finally on the horizon.
The third chapter in his epic sci-fi saga, which began with 2009’s “Avatar” and continued with 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” is arriving in theaters this Christmas. And the first trailer for “Fire and Ash” has debuted after an exclusive opening weekend run attached to “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” It’s a doozy.
Picking up right where “The Way of Water” left off, the trailer deals with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and their family following the death of one of their children at the end of the last movie. At one point, Jake tells her, “You cannot live like this baby – in hate.” All of the hallmarks of the “Avatar” series thus far are present – spray-painted-on-the-side-of-a-van fantasy imagery, crazy creatures, an ethereal beauty and action sequences that can only spring from the mind of a man who has made “Terminator 2,” “True Lies” and “The Abyss” before this.
The big new element, introduced in the trailer, is that they meet a new Na’vi tribe – the Ash People, led by Varang (Oona Chaplin), the movie’s big bad. She has such a distinctive look, with red face paint and a skeletal frame, and it says something that the movie’s first teaser poster is just her face. She seems to be able to control fire and is not afraid of the mechanized suits that are used by the evil RDA. We cannot wait to meet her.
Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Britain Dalton and Dileep Rao return for the new installment, with David Thewlis joining the cast as a new Na’vi character, who will be returning for the fourth and fifth chapters as well. Also – and we cannot stress this enough – Payakan, the Tulkun who is besties with Lo’ak, will be back too.
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” arrives in our galaxy on Dec. 19.
