Avatar: Fire and Ash Star Teases the Franchise’s Darkest Chapter Yet

Stephen Lang is out there talking Avatar 3, and it sounds like James Cameron is steering this one straight through the feels. Fewer cheer-worthy whale flights, more messy family fallout. Not a shock after The Way of Water, but still.

What Lang is actually saying

Lang, back as Colonel Miles Quaritch, says the third film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, goes darker and digs deeper into grief and family. He points directly to the aftermath of Neteyam’s death (Jake and Neytiri’s eldest) as the emotional engine of the story. Stakes are up across the board, and he keeps using the word 'stunning' to describe what he’s seeing.

'I have wrapped shooting, but we never consider ourselves, you know, wrapped really. There’s always another door that we get ushered through.'

Where the movie stands

Production-wise, he says he has finished his part, but if you know how these Avatar movies get made, that does not mean the machine is done. He was on set less than a week ago and came away saying the footage looks absolutely gorgeous.

He also calls the first two films extraordinary, says the stakes in Fire and Ash are really increasing, and doubles down on Cameron’s worldbuilding — as in, Cameron builds a world in a way no one else does. He describes this one as stunningly beautiful and fully realized, and circles back to the big theme: at the end of the day, these movies are about family, which is why they keep connecting with people.

Dates and details to keep straight

• Stephen Lang is reprising Colonel Miles Quaritch.
• Avatar: Fire and Ash leans into grief, loss, and family bonds after Neteyam’s death.
• Lang says stakes are higher and the film looks 'absolutely stunning.'
• He finished shooting, but work continues; he visited set less than a week ago.
• James Cameron’s approach gets high praise for next-level worldbuilding.
• Release: Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters worldwide on December 19, 2025.
• Also on Lang’s calendar: Sisu: Road to Revenge, arriving November 2025.
• Interview source: Dexerto.

Short version: Avatar 3 sounds like the heavy one. Bring tissues. And maybe a backup pair for the 3D glasses.