Tickets for James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash went on sale earlier today, and Disney shared a plethora of new teasers, featurettes and posters to accompany the announcement.
A final trailer was set to be released later on during Monday Night Football, but 20th Century Studios Japan jumped the gun (a slightly shorter version has now been posted by the movie's X account).
This latest preview of the sci-fi threequel begins with a recap of certain events from the previous films, before we catch up with Jake, Neytiri and the surviving members of the Sully clan as they face a potentially devastating encounter with an enemy they never saw coming: another Na'vi:
Here's what Cameron had to say about Varang (Game of Thrones alum Oona Chaplain), the ruthless leader of the Ash People, aka the Mangkwan Clan, in a recent interview.
"She 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."
Cameron also hinted that the Sullys may find an unexpected ally in the battle while speaking to Empire Magazine.
Possible spoilers ahead.
"He's undergoing an identity crisis,” Cameron said of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). “His interest in the biological son of his biological precursor form is all about trying to define, ‘Am I a completely new person? Am I bound by the rules and the behaviours of the person whose memories and personality I was imprinted with?’ It’s a true existential dilemma for him in the philosophical sense.”
When asked if this means that Quaritch could end up joining the good guys, Cameron gave a very telling response.
“He could connect, he could plug in — Jake wants him to,” says Cameron. “I don’t want to tell you where it goes, but we’re gonna see all this play out, because Jake would rather have this guy on side.”
Check out the trailers below, along with another new poster.
We recently learned that Avatar: Fire and Ash will clock-in at 3 hours, 15 minutes, making it the longest movie in the franchise so far. 2009's Avatar ran for 2 hours, 42 minutes, while 2022's The Way of Water was 3 hours, 12 minutes.
Though these movies definitely have their detractors, the first two films were massively successful at the box office, and we fully expect Fire and Ash to follow suit this December - especially as it's now been confirmed that the first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday will screen ahead of the movie.
Avatar 3 will see the return of cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo and Duane Evans, with David Thewlis also on board as a new character named Paylak.
Fire and Ash has been hit with numerous delays, but is finally set to release in theaters on December 19. Two additional sequels, the still untitled Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, are in various stages of production and are expected to be released in 2029 and 2031, respectively.