At long last, “Avatar 2” has arrived. James Cameron has been teasing this sequel for a literal decade, and we’ve watched as Cameron and Co. have developed and given status updates on the four “Avatar” sequels that he put together at the same time. We’ve also watched as release dates have come and gone, but with “Avatar: The Way of Water” finally in theaters and footage for multiple additional sequels already in the can, we are well on our way to “Avatar 3” and beyond.
In fact, the third entry in the series tentatively titled Avatar 3 (more on that later), has already been filmed. Now gone are the days when the vocal minority would shout that nobody cares about Pandora and the Na’vi anymore because the second entry in Cameron’s ground-breaking franchise is already earning plenty of attention from awards bodies and rejuvenated Avatar fever once more.
Since Cameron developed this as a four-film story that continues on after his 2009 film, many may have questions about “Avatar 3”. We still have 24 months until we get another adventure following Jake Sully, Neytiri, and their family, but we already know quite a bit about what to expect about the sure-to-be ambitious threequel. Sound the alarm and ready your banshees everything that we know so far about Avatar 3.
Summary of Avatar Way of Water
The Way of Water introduced us to a whole tribe of new people. We met Jake Sully and Neytiri’s children, sons Neteyam and Lo’ak, daughter Tuk, adopted daughter Kiri (possibly Dr. Grace Augustine’s reincarnation?!), and Spider, a human boy who strongly resembles a certain malevolent Colonel. On top of that, the entire Sully gang moves to the isolated isles of Pandora in order to protect the Omaticaya forest people. The sea people of Pandora, the Metkayina, join the ragtag Sully family on its mission to defend Pandora from the unrelenting human beings still hellbent on exploiting the planet’s natural resources.
Now that we’ve met the sea clan of Pandora—who appropriately have teal-toned skin to reflect the aquamarine glitter of their beloved sea—we’re all left to wonder a few questions. Where are the fire Na’vi of Pandora? Or the desert Na’vi? Or the swamp Na’vi?! There’s an entire planet left to explore, people. With three more sequels set to be directed by Cameron, we are closer than ever to getting a full tour of the mysterious, bioluminescent world.
When Is Avatar 3 Coming Out?
Avatar 3 will be hitting theaters on December 20, 2024. So for those who want to be exact, that’s exactly 735 days after the release of The Way of Water, which seems like a lot until you remember that fans had to wait a whopping 4,735 days between the release of the first film until they finally learned the ways of water.
What Will Avatar 3 Be About?
As of now, we don’t really know any concrete details. The Way of Water ended with Spider saving Quaritch but rejecting his offer to join him, as well as the Sully family finally being fully accepted as one of the Metkayina after Neteyam’s body was laid to rest with the ancestors of the sea people. Jon Landau revealed to Collider that the third film will continue to raise the bar both technologically and thematically and that we’ll be introduced to new clans of Na’vi and new biomes on Pandora.
“Well, I think we’re gonna continue to raise the bar with the storytelling first. I think that what we’re gonna do is go out and meet new clans. We’re gonna go out and see different biomes, and that’s gonna present its own technological challenges. How do we present those? Just like water presented challenges in this one. And, what we’re gonna also continue to do is not look at just how we use the tools of technology, but how do we get the exhibition community on board with creating a ubiquitous improvement across all theaters?”
So we’ve seen the jungles of Pandora in the first film, and then the ocean, it’s anyone’s guess as to where the third movie will take us. Does Pandora have deserts? Do they have snowy mountains? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Avatar: The Seed Bearer
A report from BBC News claims that the next three Avatar films will be named, Avatar: The Seed Bearer, Avatar: The Tulkun Rider, and Avatar: The Quest for Eywa. If we can go by the hints given to us in the sequel titles, it may be safe to assume that since we learned the way of water in this new installment, we may be land-bound for the next movie, The Seed Bearer—and hopefully, we’ll be introduced to some new Na’vi who can show us the way of the land. I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and go gardening with the seed-bearing people of Pandora. Luckily we’ll only need to wait until 2024 to see it. The rest of the installments are slated to release in theaters every other year.
Something we do know for sure about The Seed Bearer is that it won’t contain much gun violence. As Cameron recently revealed to Esquire Middle East, “I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action. I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark,” said Cameron. Looks like instead of excessive gunfire exchange, we’ll have a lot of creative CGI filmmaking and gorgeous shots of the surface of Pandora to look forward to in The Seed Bearer.
What Cast Members Are Returning for Avatar 3?
Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Cliff Curtis, Bailey Bass, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald have all been confirmed to return as their Na’vi characters. As of now, there is no word yet on whether Kate Winslet will reprise her role as Ronal, but since the Oscar-winning actress, during an interview with Marc Maron on his WTF Podcast, she noted that she was confused at times on whether she was filming a scene for The Way of Water or for the third film, so it seems like she’ll be returning once more. While Jamie Flatters‘ character Neteyam was killed at the end of The Way of Water, there’s always a chance that he’ll return as well, especially since this wouldn’t be the first time the franchise has resurrected characters from the dead.
Of the human cast, Giovanni Ribisi is said to be returning as Parker Selfridge, after making a brief cameo in The Way of Water. The unknown fate of Jemaine Clement‘s Dr. Ian Garvin also seems to point in the direction that he’ll be returning for the third film. Joel David Moore and Dileep Rao also seem like likely candidates to return as their characters Dr. Norm Spellman and Dr. Max Patel.
Two of the major human players in The Way of Water, Jack Champion‘s Spider and Edie Falco‘s General Frances Ardmore will also be returning for the next film.
Will Avatar 3 Introduce Any New Characters?
Avatar 3 will feature quite feature several big names joining the fold. After a big year in 2022 including her acclaimed leading role in Everything Everywhere All At Once and a voice role in the biggest animated film of the year, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Michelle Yeoh will be joining the Avatar franchise as a character named Dr. Karina Mogue, a human scientist. While many expected Yeoh to be featured in The Way of Water, that ended up not being the case.
Oona Chaplin most known for her role as Talisa Maegyr in Game of Thrones will be playing Varang, one of the new Na’vi. Baby Driver breakout star Eiza González revealed to Collider’s own Perri Nemiroff back in 2021 that she auditioned for the role after having a small part in the Cameron-produced film Alita: Battle Angel.
Acclaimed British actor David Thewlis, who is most known for his role as Hogwarts’ werewolf professor Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films, will also have a key role as Peylak, one of the Na’vi in not just Avatar 3, but also 4 and 5.
When Did Avatar 3 Film?
Avatar 3 was filmed back-to-back with The Way of Water, with the latter film entering production way back in late 2017. Jon Landau revealed that most of Avatar 3 has already been filmed, and not only that but some of the fourth film has already been shot as well.
We went out and we shot all of movie 2. We shot 95% of movie 3. We have a little bit that we have to still pick up. And we shot the first act of movie 4.
Avatar 3, much like The Way of Water, was filmed in New Zealand, the same country where The Lord of the Rings franchise was filmed, including the first season of The Rings of Power.
