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Avatar: Fire and Ash may have proved a dazzling, surprisingly emotional return to Pandora – but with the James Cameron-led sequel having already left a bunch of theaters, we're itching to see what's next for the franchise with Avatar 4.
The fourth installment has all the ingredients to be one of the best sci-fi movies ever. Well, other than an official greenlight and director, with Cameron admitting prior to Fire and Ash's release that he'd be willing to walk away from the saga if fans didn't show up for some new Na'vi action and make the third a box office hit. Fortunately, it's pulled in close to $1.5 billion so far, so we're not too worried.
Given how things left off for Jake, Neytiri, and Sigourney Weaver's intriguingly powerful Kiri, we can imagine there's plenty more to see from the Sullys. Not to mention the fact that Oona Chaplin's dynamic villain Varang is still at large... We dive into all that and more below, as we bring together everything we know so far about Avatar 4, from the release date to confirmed cast members and all we can gather about the plot so far. Be warned, though, there are major Avatar: Fire and Ash spoilers ahead, so turn back now if you haven't seen the movie and don't want to know what happens just yet.
Avatar 4 release date
The Avatar 4 release date is December 21, 2029.
Filming has already taken place on around a third of the movie, as cameras rolled back-to-back with Fire and Ash to account for the franchise's ageing child actors. However, two-thirds is still unfinished, so it's going to be a while until we return to Pandora.
For more on Avatar 3, check out our Avatar: Fire and Ash review.
Is there an Avatar 4 trailer yet?
No, there isn't an Avatar 4 trailer yet. The first Avatar: Fire and Ash trailer ahead of Fantastic Four: First Steps screenings in late July 2025 before hitting the internet shortly afterwards, which was just under five months ahead of that movie's release. That means we can expect the first Avatar 4 trailer to drop in July or August 2029 if the sequel follows a similar schedule. We've got a long time to wait, in any case.
Avatar 4 cast
The Avatar 4 cast will feature plenty of returning (blue) faces, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, and Sigourney Weaver. It's also geared up to feature a larger role for David Thewlis' Wind Trader, who we met only briefly in Fire and Ash.
Earlier in January 2026, James Cameron revealed that Michelle Yeoh would be playing a new Na'vi character in the follow-up, too. "Her character’s name is Palakpuelat," he told TVBS News Japan (via World of Reel). "The movie industry is depressed right now, and Avatar 3 cost a lot of money. We have to do well to continue. We not only have to succeed, but also find a way to make Avatar 4 more inexpensively in order to move forward. Michelle will be in Avatar 4 and Avatar 5. She will play a performance-capture character."
Check out the full cast list below.
- Sam Worthington – Jake Sully
- Zoe Saldaña – Neytiri
- Sigourney Weaver – Kiri
- Britain Dalton – Lo'ak
- Trinity Jo-Li Bliss – Tuktirey
- Jack Champion – Spider
- Stephen Lang – Colonel Miles Quaritch
- Oona Chaplin – Varang
- David Thewlis – Peylak
- CCH Pounder – Mo'at
- Michelle Yeoh – Palakpuelat
- Edie Falco – General Frances Ardmore
- Giovanni Ribisi – Parker Selfridge
- Jemaine Clement – Dr. Ian Garvin
- Joel David Moore – Dr. Norm Spellman
- Dileep Rao – Dr. Max Patel
- Matt Gerald – Corporal Lyle Wainfleet
Avatar 4 plot
There's no official synopsis for Avatar 4 just yet, but we can do our best to predict what might go down in the upcoming fourth installment based on the Avatar: Fire and Ash ending. The third movie tied up quite a lot of plot threads from Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, but there are still some storylines we need to see more of before we reach their conclusion. For example, we know the Wind Traders, led by David Thewlis' Peylak, will play a much larger role in the planned upcoming sequels
There's also the issue of Varang and Quaritch, who both survived the climactic battle in Fire and Ash. Will Quaritch stay allied with the Ash People? Will he continue to hunt down Jake and his family? The answer to at least one of those questions is definitely 'yes', we'd say.
Plus, there are the consequences of Spider being able to breathe on Pandora to explore. After Kiri worked her Eywa magic and saved Spider's life when his oxygen mask ran out of charge, he now has a connection to Pandora and can breathe its air, despite being human. Once the RDA caught wind of this, they tried to test on him to see if they could replicate it and speed up their colonization of Pandora. Spider escapes but, as Jake points out, the RDA isn't going to stop until they get their hands on him again.
Plus, there's set to be one pretty major change in Avatar 4: the action will take us from Pandora to Earth. "There's over-population and a depletion of our natural resources that make life harder," the late producer Jon Landau said back in 2023. "But we don't want to paint a bleak picture for where our world is going. The films are also about the idea of that we can change course."
For more on what to watch, get up to speed with this year's best upcoming movies with our guide to the biggest new movie release dates.
