The first teaser trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash is currently playing in theaters before The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It leaked online in HD earlier a couple of weeks ago, but Disney moved quickly to take those down (don't fret, though, as an online release looks likely for Monday).
In the meantime, we have two new covers from Empire Magazine putting the spotlight on the Ash People/Mangkwan Clan and their leader, the villainous Varang. We've explored Pandora's forests and seas, but this corner of the planet has a far more sinister feel to it.
"Varang is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She's hardened by that," filmmaker James Cameron explained earlier this year. "She will do anything for them, even things that we would consider to be evil."
"One thing we wanted to do in this film is not be black-and-white simplistic," he teased. "We’re trying to evolve beyond the ‘all humans are bad, all Na’vi are good’ paradigm."
In Avatar: Fire and Ash, Jake and Neytiri will encounter the "Ash People," a new clan of Na'vi, though few concrete plot details have been revealed about what to expect beyond that.
The movie was shot back-to-back with 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water. Cameron originally intended for them to be one movie, but soon realised there was too much material and expanded the story across parts two and three (a fourth instalment is also in the works and set for release in 2029, meaning we'll have another long wait after this movie).
Oona Chaplin (Game of Thrones) plays the leader of the Ash People, Varang. David Thewlis and Michelle Yeoh are also joining the cast alongside returning stars Sam Worthington, Zeo Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Bailey Bass, Joel David Moore, Edie Falco, and Dileep Rao.
Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote Avatar: Fire and Ash, and it will be released in theaters worldwide on December 19. Check out these new covers in the X posts below (via SFFGazette.com).