Why James Cameron Dreaded Filming This Fire-and-Ash Avatar Scene as a Parent

James Cameron just connected the most painful day on The Way of Water to where the next movie is headed, and it all tracks: the hardest scene to shoot is the one that lights the fuse for Fire and Ash.

The day everyone was dreading

In The Way of Water, Jake and Neytiri are parents, the Na'vi vs. RDA war gets uglier, and their eldest son, Neteyam, dies saving his siblings. Cameron told GamesRadar+ that filming that sequence wrecked him, and you can see why.

My mind goes to the day that we shot Neteyam's death, because I know everybody was kind of dreading that. Because I'm a parent. I was a parent when I wrote those scenes, and it's the most inconceivable thing. You guys [Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana] had become parents in the meantime, between the first and second film.

How that loss fuels Fire and Ash

Cameron says Neteyam's death is the engine for the next film. He even teased, alongside six other non-spoiler spoilers, that Jake and Neytiri's relationship takes a hit after losing their son. Lo'ak steps up as the new storyteller, and the family is carrying what he calls the 'ash of grief' into the next chapter.

On paper, you might assume Fire and Ash is a straight revenge play. Cameron says that is not the point. The movie digs into the pointlessness of tit-for-tat violence and the hard work of breaking out of it.

It's a movie about how you heal, and how you go forward, and how you pick up your pack and you march on, and how you break the cycle of violence that is created by the hatred that comes from that loss.

What we know about the new conflict

After Neteyam's death, the Sullys cross paths with another Pandora tribe, the Mangwaka Clan (also known as the Ash People). They are more tribal, more vengeful, and, yes, fire-obsessed. Varang aligns with Quaritch to go after the Sully family. That setup sounds like it could drift into a revenge movie, but Cameron is aiming the story straight at the 'cycle of violence' and what it takes to stop feeding it.

Quick franchise snapshot and what's next

• Avatar (2009) — Production: Lightstorm Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partner — IMDb: 7.9/10 — Rotten Tomatoes: 81% — Box office: $2.9 billion
• Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) — Production: Lightstorm Entertainment — IMDb: 7.5/10 — Rotten Tomatoes: 76% — Box office: $2.3 billion
• Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) — Production: Lightstorm Entertainment — Ratings and box office: TBA

Fire and Ash opens December 19, 2025 in the U.S. Early chatter is already calling it the series' best, which is bold considering no one has seen the full thing yet. But if Cameron sticks the landing on grief, family, and breaking the loop of violence, that label might not be hyperbole.