'Avatar 3' Sets D23 Ablaze With Title Reveal
Don't soot the messenger, don't ash me how I did it, but it’s fire
It might not be as literally fire-setting as The Penguin’s presence at San Diego Comic-Con, but the hype for the third film in James Cameron’s Avatar franchise heated up from a fully-packed Honda Center for the D23 Disney Entertainment Showcase Friday evening. Long known to be about the Fire Na’vi, the film’s title was revealed to be Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Director James Cameron and stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña were on hand, showcasing concept art alongside the title reveal. “I came 7,000 miles from New Zealand for this,” Cameron remarked before the reveal, noting that footage wasn’t ready to be shown. Holy crap, that’s a lot of people. Is this epic or what? Most epic event for most epic fans,” he continued, promising “New cultures and settings… You’ll see a lot more Pandora that you never saw before”, that it’s an “insane adventure” and a “feast for the eyes”, with very high emotional stakes, more than ever before. “We’re going into really challenging territory for all the characters you know and love”, he finished saying. The concept art included Saldaña’s Neytiri riding a banshee, what seemed to be giant airships, and a first look at the Ash People of the Na’vi that give the film its identity. They’re covered in what’s described as “ghost-like” soot and “otherworldly” masks while dancing around a huge fire pit. Cameron has hinted they’re a more violence-prone people and drawn to power moreso than other clans.
Shot back-to-back with the previous film The Way of Water, the two films were initially envisioned as one, possibly making it the culprit of the CinemaCon 2016 announcement of there being four sequels instead of three. As such, both were written by Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Along with Worthington and Saldaña, the returning cast includes Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Bailey Bass, Joel David Moore, Edie Falco and Dileep Rao. New cast members include David Thewlis and Michelle Yeoh in undisclosed roles, and Oona Chaplin as the leader of the Ash People, Varang.
This title reveal puts to rest the long-rumored The Seed Bearer. A third Avatar film existing has been in the works since 2010, for a rather optimistic 2015 release until the ambition, pandemic, and strikes landed it for a December 19, 2025 release. The fourth and fifth films are set for 2029 and 2031 respectively.
