Avatar: Fire and Ash Kills Off Major Character — And Even the Cast Isn’t Sure What Really Happened

Colonel Miles Quaritch has been the Avatar series' cockroach for years, and Avatar: Fire and Ash pushes that to the edge — literally. The movie tees up a clean exit for him, then quietly leaves the door unlocked.

Where Fire and Ash leaves Quaritch

The finale is a three-way tangle between Jake (Sam Worthington), Quaritch (Stephen Lang), and Spider. Spider slips, falls off a cliff, and Quaritch jumps after him. Jake hauls both of them back up — the whole point being to force Quaritch to actually look around and get what Pandora is about.

Then Neytiri and the kids drop in. Quaritch takes one look at the situation, mutters 'ain't this a bitch,' and hurls himself off the edge. No body. No confirmation. Just a long fall and an implied period at the end of a very long sentence.

Stephen Lang on that jump

Lang told CinemaBlend he played the moment as a blunt, almost nihilistic choice. His words do not make it sound final, but they also do not promise anything.

'The line that I don't say when I take that is 'F*ck it' because that's really what it is. It's a 'F*ck it' moment. 'This is too confusing and complex for me. I've done plenty. I really won't say more than that about it. As far as we know he's plummeting and that it's the end for him. But, he did die after the first movie, and he almost died in the second movie. So who knows what's in store.'

Translation: open ending by design. Even Lang is hedging.

Does he actually stay dead this time?

Short answer: history says do not bet on it. Longer answer: Fire and Ash spends real time nudging Quaritch toward something like a conscience, which would be a strange investment if he is gone for good. Jake tries to crack him open, and while Quaritch clings to his identity and mission, you can see the wobble.

On top of that, there is a low-key romantic thread with Varang, and by the end he is wearing Mangkwan attire — another hint that Pandora is starting to seep in. One more wrinkle: after Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) scares Varang off, she disappears from the fight. If anyone on Pandora was going to dive after him, it would be her.

Quaritch's running tally so far

• Avatar (2009): Dead. Full stop. Or so we thought.
• Avatar: The Way of Water: His human brain was backed up; he returns in a Na'vi body. He almost dies again until Spider pulls him out.
• Avatar: Fire and Ash: Gains layers, nearly has a come-to-Pandora moment, then swan dives into the unknown. No body shown.

So why end him now?

It would be odd for James Cameron to develop Quaritch this much in the third film only to pitch him off a cliff and call it a day. The choice reads more like a character reset than a final curtain. The ambiguity around his motive — was he choosing death, counting on a rescue below, or just opting out of a no-win standoff? — feels like setup for Avatar 4, if he, you know, makes it.

The Fire and Ash essentials

Avatar: Fire and Ash is directed by James Cameron and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, and Joel David Moore. It runs a hefty 3 hours and 17 minutes. Early Rotten Tomatoes score is 68%.

There is a small labeling snafu worth noting: the release date is listed as December 19, 2025, yet the movie is also described as currently playing in US theaters. One of those pieces of info is outdated — or the date moved and someone forgot to change the boilerplate.

Bottom line: if you are asking me to bet, I would not count Quaritch out. Again. But if this really is his last fall, it is a very on-brand exit for a guy who has made a career out of brute-forcing every problem until the ground disappears under his feet. What do you think — final plunge or one more life left?