Avatar 3 is an upcoming American epicscience fiction film directed, produced, co-written, and co-edited by James Cameron, scheduled to be released on December 20, 2024. It is the second of four planned sequels to his film Avatar and will be the sequel to Avatar 2, making it the third film in the Avatar franchise. Cameron is producing the film with Jon Landau, with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver originally announced as his co-writers; it was later announced that Cameron, Jaffa, Silver, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno took a part in the writing process of all of the sequels before being assigned to finish the separate scripts, making the eventual writing credits unclear. Cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Dileep Rao, and Matt Gerald are all expected to return from the first two films. Reprising their roles from the second film are Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, and Oona Chaplin. Avatar 3 started shooting simultaneously with Avatar 2 on August 15, 2017. Two additional sequels will start shooting as soon as the first two wrap post-production and are expected to be released on December 18, 2026, and December 22, 2028, respectively.
Cast
; Na'vi
Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, a former human who fell in love with Neytiri and befriended the Na'vi after becoming a part of the Avatar Program, eventually taking their side in their conflict with humans and leading them to victory; at the end of the first film, he becomes the new leader of the Omaticaya and transfers his mind into his avatar permanently.
Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, Jake's consort and daughter to the previous clan chief.
CCH Pounder as Mo'at, the Omaticaya's spiritual leader and Neytiri's mother.
Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, the leader of the reef people clan of Metkayina.
David Thewlis in an undisclosed role. Although he stayed secretive about the nature of his character, Thewlis mentioned that he has "a lot to do in ", that his role requires motion capture, and that he will be featured in Avatar 3 to 5. He mentioned in January 2020 that his character was a Na'vi.
; Human
Joel David Moore as Dr. Norm Spellman, a former part of the Avatar Program who chose to side with the Na'vi in the first film.
Matt Gerald as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, a Na'vi hating military man.
Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, the corporate administrator for the RDA mining operation in the first film.
Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel, a scientist who worked in the Avatar Program and came to support Jake's rebellion against the RDA.
Edie Falco as General Ardmore, the commander in charge of the RDA's interests.
Brendan Cowell as Mick Scoresby, captain of a hunting vessel on Pandora.
Michelle Yeoh as Dr. Karina Mogue
Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin
; Unknown
Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, who led his kind in their conflict with the Na'vi in the first film. Although the character died at the end of Avatar, Cameron confirmed in 2010 that Lang would return in the first three sequels, stating "I'm not going to say exactly how we're bringing him back, but it's a science fiction story, after all. His character will evolve into really unexpected places across the arc of our new three-film saga." He later stated that Quaritch would act as main antagonist once again, in all four sequels.
Sigourney Weaver; Weaver originally appeared in the first film as Dr. Grace Augustine, a human who takes the side of the Na'vi and dies during the conflict. Although both Weaver and Cameron confirmed that Weaver would return in the sequels, she stated in 2014 that she would not play the same character.
Oona Chaplin as Varang, a "strong and vibrant central character who spans the entire saga of the sequels".
Production
On July 31, 2017, it was announced that the New Zealand-based visual effects studio Weta Digital had commenced work on the Avatar sequels.
Casting
In August 2017, Matt Gerald had officially signed on to portray his first film's role Corporal Lyle Wainfleet in all upcoming sequels. In August 2017, in an interview with Empire, Cameron revealed that Stephen Lang would not only be returning in all four sequels but he would also be the main villain in all four films. On October 3, 2017, Kate Winslet had signed on in all four sequels for an unspecified role in the film which was described by Cameron as "Ronal". On January 25, 2018, Dileep Rao was confirmed to return as Dr. Max Patel. In April 2018, David Thewlis revealed his involvement in the franchise, stating that he would be featured in three of the four sequels, later stating in January 2020 that his character was a Na'vi. This lead to Thewlis being largely reported as part of the cast of Avatar 2; however, he stated in June 2020 that the reports were wrong, and that he would actually be a part of Avatar 3 to 5.
Filming
on the Avatar 2 and 3 began simultaneously on September 25, 2017, in Manhattan Beach, California. On November 14, 2018, Cameron announced filming with the principal performance capture cast had been completed. Filming on the next two sequels will begin after wrapping the post-production on first two sequels. According to producer Jon Landau, live-action filming for Avatar 3 and its predecessor commenced in New Zealand in early 2019. On March 17, 2020, Landau announced that the filming of the Avatar sequel films in New Zealand had been postponed indefinitely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also confirmed that production would remain in Los Angeles. However, work on visual effects will continue at Weta Digital in Wellington. In early May, health and safety production protocols have been endorsed by the New Zealand government, allowing filming to resume in the country. However the production team for the Avatar sequels has not yet returned to New Zealand. On May 31, part of the Avatar crew including James Cameron were granted entry into New Zealand under a special visa category for border exemptions for foreigners deemed essential to a project of "significant economic value." On June 1, 2020, Landau posted a picture of himself and Cameron on Instagram, showing that they had returned to New Zealand to resume filming. After their arrival, all 55 crew members who had traveled to New Zealand started a 2-week government-supervised isolation period at a hotel in Wellington before they would resume filming. This would make Avatar 2 and 3 the first major Hollywood blockbusters to resume production after postponing filming due to the pandemic.
Release
Avatar 3 is scheduled to be released on December 20, 2024, by 20th Century Studios, two years after the release of Avatar 2 on December 16, 2022.
Sequels
Avatar 3 is the second of four planned sequels to Avatar. Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are planned to follow after the third film's release. Although the last two sequels have been reportedly greenlit, Cameron stated in a November 26, 2017 interview: "Let's face it, if Avatar 2 and 3 don't make enough money, there's not going to be a 4 and 5". David Thewlis later confirmed this in February 2018, stating "they're making 2 and 3, they're gonna see if people go and see them, and then they'll make 4 and 5". Conversely, Sigourney Weaver stated in November 2018, after the first two sequels had completed main photography, that she was currently "busy doing Avatar 4 and 5", which several media outlets interpreted as confirmation that the last two sequels had started filming. In January 2019, in face of the proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that both Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are being developed but haven't been officially greenlit. According to producer Jon Landau in February 2019, Iger may have been misinterpreted. He said that Avatar 4 and 5 ″are not only ″ but also a third of Avatar 4 has already been filmed.
