Avatar: Fire and Ash release date revealed

"We’re going into really challenging territory for all the characters you know and love," James Cameron shared.

Before Avatar: The Way of Water was released in December 2022, director James Cameron had largely completed work on the third film in the series.

Cameron told Entertainment Weekly that he filmed segments of the third and fourth movies in advance to prevent what he called “the Stranger Things effect,” where child actors undergo significant changes in appearance between film installments.

“They’re all supposed to still be in high school [but] they look like they’re 27,” the director said in December 2022 of the Netflix series. “You know, I love the show. It’s OK, we’ll suspend disbelief. We like the characters, but, you know.”

Cameron referred to The Way of Water star Jack Champion, who plays the human teenager Spider, as a “growing weed.” He added: “We shot with Jack when he was 14 and 15, almost up to 16. So we were shooting him over an 18-month period.”

In August 2024, Cameron announced to D23 Expo attendees that the third film in the series is officially named Avatar: Fire and Ash.

“You’ll see a lot more Pandora that you never saw before … It’s an insane adventure and a feast for the eyes, but it’s also got very high emotional stakes, more than ever before,” Cameron said during the presentation. “We’re going into really challenging territory for all the characters you know and love.”

“We're into a very hectic two-year post-production right now,” he said at the 2023 Screen Production and Development Association conference in New Zealand. "So, it'll be Christmas '25."

Disney has announced that Avatar: Fire and Ash will be released in theaters on December 19, 2025.