Spoilers for The Way of Water ahead.
If Avatar: The Way of Water taught us anything, it’s that humans are greedy — for eternal life, for revenge, for tulkun brain juice, and for more Avatar movies. After the success of James Cameron’s blockbuster follow-up to his 2009 Best Picture nominee, audiences are clamoring for more of that sweet, sweet Jake Sully voice-over. Thirteen years after the first film, with its by-the-numbers storytelling, The Way of Water has expanded the franchise’s universe and sparked numerous ideas about what future sequels will look like. Here, everything we know so far about Avatar 3.
It’s not called Avatar 3
In 2018, the BBC leaked potential titles for the upcoming sequels. The second sequel was called Avatar: The Seed Bearer, though that has not been officially confirmed.
It’s already (95 percent) done filming …
Avatar: The Way of Water and its sequel shot simultaneously, beginning in 2017. In 2021, Cameron told Variety that he had completed filming with the young actors and had completed all of the motion-capture filming. At the time, he still had to shoot “a little bit on some of the adult characters” in live action. Producer Jon Landau told Collider this past December that they have shot “95% of Avatar 3” … as well as the entire first act of Avatar 4.
… But we have to wait two more years for it
The film has a release date of December 20, 2024. It takes a lot of time in post to make Pandora look so good.
And this means no more superlong time jumps
At least not yet. Cameron has confirmed that the third film will focus again on Sully, Neytiri, and their kids, who won’t have totally aged out of their roles thanks to simultaneous filming. He also said that Miles Quaritch will continue to be the antagonist.
Avatar 3 will be wetter and better
Director of photography Russell Carpenter told Polygon that “there was more underwater work done for the other movie.”
We’ll see more parts of Pandora and at least one new Na’vi clan
Cameron recently told the French news program 20 Minutes that the third film will introduce the audience to “cultures different from those I have already shown,” including the fire-based Ash clan. “I want to reveal the Na’vis from another angle because I’ve only shown their good sides so far. In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vis examples. In Avatar 3, we’ll do the opposite. We’ll also explore new universes while continuing the story of the main characters.”
There will be more Kate Winslet
Winslet’s character, Ronal, had a minor role in the second film, but she didn’t break Tom Cruise’s underwater-breath-holding record for nothing: That famous picture of her waving a big cape in a mo-cap suit in a pool was for a scene in the third film.
Plus new cast members, too
David Thewlis, Michelle Yeoh, and Oona Chaplin all have roles in the third film. Also, Vin Diesel may be involved somehow? Could he be the leader of the Ash clan?
We already have an idea of what seed bearer might mean
In the first sequel, we learn that Dr. Grace Augustine’s dormant avatar (Sigourney Weaver) gave birth to a daughter, Kiri (also Sigourney Weaver). The pregnancy and the impregnator are a mystery to the other characters. If this is the allegorical virgin birth, Pandora edition, then Kiri’s other parent would be Pandora’s version of God: Eywa, whom the Na’vi generally engage with in the form of a tree, or flora (seed bearer — get it?). We’ve already seen Kiri demonstrate abnormal powers and a strong connection to Eywa. (In the film, the human scientists believe she has epilepsy; many scholars theorize that certain prophets in various religions were, in fact, epileptic.) The franchise’s writers have said, “I don’t think we ever spoke about her specifically as a Na’vi Jesus,” but they also said she’s not not that. Whether or not the title changes, we can expect the third film to dive into the mysteries of Kiri, Intergalactic Girl-Jesus.
Our friends the tulkuns will return
The other leaked titles in the series are Avatar: The Tulkun Rider and Avatar: The Quest for Eywa.
