Fresh look at new Avatar 3 clan revealed as James Cameron teases that the series is trying to evolve beyond the "'all humans are bad, all Na’vi are good' paradigm"

Avatar: The Way of Water
(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Avatar 3 is going to take us beyond the moral paradigm seen in the franchise so far, director James Cameron has teased.

A new look at the Ash People, AKA the Mangkwan Clan, has also been revealed by Empire magazine, which depicts their leader Varang, played by Oona Chaplin. Check it out below.

"Varang is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She's hardened by that," Cameron told the magazine. "She will do anything for them, even things that we would consider to be evil."

"One thing we wanted to do in this film is not be black-and-white simplistic," he added. "We're trying to evolve beyond the 'all humans are bad, all Na'vi are good' paradigm."

Cameron has previously teased that the Ash People won't be all that nice, and we can expect in Avatar 3 to see "different cultures from those I have already shown. The fire will be represented by the 'Ash People.' I want to show the Na’vi from another angle because, so far, I have only shown their good sides.

"In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na'vi examples," he continued. "In Avatar 3, we will do the opposite. We will also explore new worlds, while continuing the story of the main characters. I can say that the last parts will be the best. The others were an introduction, a way to set the table before serving the meal."

Avatar 3 will release on December 19. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming movies of the year to get planning your theater trips.

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Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

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