“Avatar,” the sci-fi film that remained the highest grossing motion picture for almost a decade has turned into a growing franchise with three entries. The most recent addition to the franchise, “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” came to theaters Dec. 19, 2025. It has earned a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7.4 on IMDB and a 3.6 on Letterboxd. Featured actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver all reprise their roles as Jake Sully, Neytiri, General Quartritch and Kiri, respectively.

The plot follows Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, leading his wife (Zoe Saldana) and family out of grief following the death of their oldest son, Neteyam. They meet the hostile Ash People in an ambush, a tribe of Na’Vi who have rejected their goddess, Eywa. The fiery Varang (Oona Chaplin) leads the Ash People with an alliance with the RDA, led by Quartritch. The Sullys have to team up with the Water People, the Metkayina, and other loyal Na’Vi clans to defeat the Ash people and the RDA.

James Cameron returns for the third installment in the series. Cameron previously had experience not only with the first two installations, but with other award winning films such as “The Terminator” and “Titanic.” Cameron headed production for both “The Way of Water and Fire and Ash” which began Sept. 25, 2017. 

Following the sequel “The Way of Water,” further development of characters Spider and Kiri caused some controversy around their relationship. Spider, the son of Quartritch and played by Jack Champion, is found to be able to breathe Pandora’s air without a mask after a ritual by Kiri. Kiri is found to be an exact genetic replica of her mother. After a romantic scene involving the two, critics are questioning the characters’ roles in the series. Some find their relationship to be familial, as they both consider the same man, Jake, their father. Cameron has confirmed he sees their relationship as a romantic connection because they were both orphans, rather than a family dynamic. 

Further development includes Jake and Neytiri, as well as Quartritch and newer addition Varang. Neytiri and Jake are seen grieving the death of their son, Neteyam, after he died saving his family in The Way of Water. Jake and Neytiri must move past their differences in faith in Eywa to defeat the new Ash Clan which teamed up with the RDA to find Jake Sully. Quartritch begins a romantic relationship with Varang, who is fascinated by the guns the RDA possesses. The whole film has an avid anti-gun theme. 

New technology and advances in CGI have dramatically improved the imagery in the “Avatar” films. Advanced performance capture has upped the ante in “Fire and Ash,” along with sensor-laden suits and cameras situated on every actor’s suit to give the best angle of Pandora. Film locations with beautiful nature and scenery such as California and New Zealand provide natural wildlife touched with some tech to make Pandora a real place. Much of the film was shot with a Fusion Camera System, introduced and built by Cameron and his team themselves. 

Even though new technology and further development of our favorite characters was precedent throughout the film. The film leaves off from “The Way of Water,” includes a major fight and battle scene, and can be seen as one big “rescue the kids in danger” trope. Core conflicts of Eywa’s good versus the RDA and the Ash people’s bad lacked novelty and felt too familiar to some viewers. 

“Fire and Ash” covered some heavier themes than the first two films in the series. A boy is told he is the reason his brother passes, many people are murdered, and there is an overwhelming theme of anti gun violence and oppressive societies. On a brighter side, the Sully family and Metkayina clans support each other when grieving Neteyam’s death, and fight against the RDA for ownership of their land on Pandora. 

Cameron overall added a great addition to the “Avatar” series. New tech and CGI advances proved to dive deeper into the nature and beauty of Pandora. Further development in character relationships evoked emotion previously unexplored . Although I found the plot structure repetitive of the first two films, the addition added new characters and a new purpose to fight the RDA. Fans’ mostly positive response represents the box office success of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”