Avatar: Fire and Ash reviews, plot, cast and everything else you need to know about the sci-fi sequel

Avatar: Fire and Ash is out now. The third film in the sci-fi saga sees the Sully family come to terms with the death of eldest son, Neteyam, in The Way of Water, and face-to-face with a new threat: fire-obsessed Na'vi known as the Ash People.

One of the biggest films of 2025, Fire and Ash is the third installment in director James Cameron's planned 5-film saga. Avatar 4's fate depends on Fire and Ash's box office performance, but if the next chapter does get the greenlight, we've got a long wait ahead of us: Avatar 4 is currently set to release on December 21, 2029.

But for the time being, you'll find everything there is to know about Avatar: Fire and Ash below, including what the reviews say, who's in the cast, and exactly what goes down in the epic film. This is one of the best sci-fi movies of the year, but at 3 hours and 17 minutes long, there's a lot to remember, so head below to make sure you're up to speed.

Avatar: Fire and Ash release date

Avatar: Fire and Ash was released in theaters on December 19, 2025.

That's a mere three years after Avatar: The Way of Water – a blink of an eye compared to the 13 years between the original Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).

If the planned fourth film goes ahead, we'll have a slightly longer wait ahead of us, with Avatar 4 currently set to hit cinemas on December 21, 2029, a full four years after Avatar: Fire and Ash. That film is set to shake things up in a major way, not least by giving the film a surprising new narrator.

Avatar: Fire and Ash reviews

Avatar: Fire and Ash debuted to mixed-positive reviews, but is currently the lowest-rated Avatar movie on Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus is that, while "the visuals are stunning, the action… dynamic" repetitive story beats and locations mean that "a certain sameness has set in".

Our own Avatar: Fire and Ash review says much the same: "The most action-packed Avatar yet still has the capacity to dazzle, with Oona Chaplin's Varang turning up the heat. Though a frustrating lack of resolution and some repetitive storytelling choices make this feel more like The Way of Water part 2."

Avatar: Fire and Ash trailer

Avatar: Fire and Ash | New Trailer - YouTube

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We finally got an Avatar: Fire and Ash first trailer on July 28, and it was as spectacular as we were expecting. The footage played exclusively before Fantastic Four screenings during the Marvel film's release weekend, but it was released only a few days later. You can watch it above.

In the trailer, we reunite with Jake and Neytiri's family, which seems more fractured than ever. Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are dealing with grief, but they will have to deal with planet-changing problems in Pandora. The images offer a glimpse into an incoming Na'vi war, where the "Ash People," a fire-based Na'vi clan also known as the Mangkwan Clan, will be key.

A second trailer, released in September (and which you can watch above), gives us a better insight into the tragic history of the Ash People and their disillusionment with the deity Eywa, as well as showing Pandora ablaze as Jake and Neytiri prepare for battle.

In November 2025, the first footage from the movie has been released. The tense clip, which clocks in at just over a minute long, shows Spider, Tuk, Kiri, and Lo'ak being chased through the forest and into some dangerous-looking rapids by Varang and an army of Ash People. "What does dad always say?" Lo'ak asks Tuk. "Sullys stick together," she replies. "No, the other one," he presses. "Sullys never quit?" she asks. Bingo.

Avatar: Fire and Ash plot

Clocking in at a whopping 197 minutes, there's a whole lot that goes down in Avatar: Fire and Ash. Picking up shortly after the events of The Way of Water, we learn that youngest Sully son, Lo'ak, is wracked with guilt over the death of his older brother, Neteyam, and visits him in the Spirit World. Even more grief-stricken is Neytiri, who is still in mourning and more resentful than ever of humanity's presence on Pandora.

This includes their adopted human son Spider, revealed to be the biological son of Quaritch in The Way of Water. After a near-fatal incident involving Spider's breathing mask, Jake and Neytiri decide to send Spider away to live with the relocated Omatikaya Clan, including RDA defectors Norm and Dr. Max Patel. To do so, they stow away with the nomadic Wind Traders aboard their blimp-like flying vessels. But when the convoy is attacked by the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang, the Sullys are grounded and separated.

Neytiri is injured after taking an arrow through her shoulder, and taken to the Omatikaya to heal. Meanwhile, Lo'ak, Kiri, Spider and Tuk are spotted by the Mangkwan and pursued. They lose their trail, but Spider runs out of oxygen and starts to suffocate. Kiri saves his life by calling on Eywa, who drastically alters Spider's physiology so the Pandoran air is no longer poisonous to him. The Sully kids are caught by the Mangkwan, but are rescued by Jake and Quaritch, who form a temporary alliance to save their shared son.

After returning to the Metkayina's coastal village, it's revealed that rebel whale Payakan has been exiled by the Tulkun elders for committing forbidden acts of violence against human interlopers. Lo'ak is dismayed at losing another brother, and pursues him across the ocean, almost dying during a deadly Tsyong attack. Payakan learns that his entire family has been wiped out by Scoresby and his Tulkun hunters, bar one, grievously injured Tulkun, and returns with Lo'ak to appeal to the elders.

Quaritch, meanwhile, resorts to desperate measures to capture Jake. Allying himself with Varang and the Ash People, he arms them with RDA weapons – including flame throwers and explosives – in return for Varang's ability to locate Jake. After capturing Spider, Quaritch and Varang descend on Awa'atlu with an army behind them. Jake willingly goes with Quaritch as a prisoner to avoid any bloodshed, and is taken to the RDA's city stronghold, where his capture is headline news.

Jake is due to be executed, and Spider potentially dissected so that the RDA can reverse engineer his ability to breathe the air on Pandora. Neytiri arrives in the nick of time on her banshee and saves them both, with an assist from Jemaine Clement's marine biologist Dr. Garvin, who has a crisis of conscience over Scoresby's plan to murder dozens of Tulkun at once during a gathering due to take place in a matter of days.

After almost ending Spider's life themselves to keep his dangerous secret away from the RDA, Jake and Neytiri prepare for war. Jake calls upon the Great Leonopteryx and, as Toruk Makto, unites the nearby clans ready for battle. Payakan is even able to persuade the pacifist Tulkun elders to join the fray. When the RDA attack, the battle is initially one-sided, with the Na'vi and Tulkun dominating. But the arrival of the Ash People – armed with deadly weapons – turns the tide.

All seems hopeless until Kiri is able to reach Eywa for the first time in the spirit world, with the help of Spider and Tuk, and directs Pandora's wildlife to take down the RDA. Ronal dies, but not before Neytiri helps her give birth to her child. Neytiri and Tuk are captured by Varang shortly after. The remaining Sullys convene on the ship where Neytiri and Tuk are being held, but it's Kiri who eventually saves them, turning Varang's ability to dominate other Na'vi by connecting their tendril-like braids (aka queues) together against her, and causing Varang to flee.

Jake, Sully and Spider are raised into the sky by a magnetic field, and fight atop floating rocks. Spider shoots Quaritch through the arm with a crossbow, evening the odds after Jake's leg was injured during the battle. Spider gets too close to the skirmish, and is almost knocked over the edge to his death, but is saved by Quaritch and Jake, who pulls them both to safety. When the remaining Sullys arrive, Quaritch jumps off the side to fight another day.

The film ends with Kiri taking Spider to the Tree of Souls in the Spirit World to meet their ancestors, including the fallen heroes of previous films like Dr Grace Augustine, where he is accepted as one of their own.

Avatar: Fire and Ash cast

The Avatar: Fire and Ash cast is a mix of returning actors and newcomers:

• Sam Worthington – Jake Sully
• Zoe Saldaña – Neytiri
• Sigourney Weaver – Kiri
• Britain Dalton – Lo'ak
• Trinity Jo-Li Bliss – Tuktirey
• Jack Champion – Spider
• Kate Winslet – Ronal
• Cliff Curtis – Tonowari
• Bailey Bass – Tsireya
• Filip Geljo – Ao'nung
• Duane Evans Jr. – Rotxo
• CCH Pounder – Mo'at
• David Thewlis – Peylak
• Oona Chaplin – Varang
• Joel David Moore – Dr. Norm Spellman
• Stephen Lang – Colonel Miles Quaritch
• Giovanni Ribisi – Parker Selfridge
• Edie Falco – General Frances Ardmore
• Brendan Cowell – Captain Mick Scoresby
• Jemaine Clement – Dr. Ian Garvin
• Dileep Rao – Dr. Max Patel
• Matt Gerald – Corporal Lyle Wainfleet

That's a wrap on Avatar: Fire and Ash. For more, check out our guide to this year's major upcoming movie release dates to fill out your watchlist.