James Cameron recently revealed that principal photography had been completed for the third Avatar, and he would be moving forward with the completion and release of it whether Avatar: The Way of Water did well or not. Being as the sequel has already crossed the billion-dollar line after only two weeks of screenings, it now looks like the franchise is pretty healthy despite all naysayers. And now, Variety is reporting that Cameron has teased the intended conflict for his next sequel.
While the big battles on Pandora involved the “sky people” as humans try to harvest the planet’s resources for a dying Earth, Cameron tells France’s 20 Minutes publication that the next Avatar will introduce an internal conflict with a non-peaceful tribe of Na’vi known as the “Ash People.” Cameron explains, “I want to show the Na’vi from another angle because, so far, I have only shown their good sides.”
Cameron goes on to add, “In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples. In Avatar 3, we will do the opposite. We will also explore new worlds, while continuing the story of the main characters. I can say that the last parts will be the best. The others were an introduction, a way to set the table before serving the meal.”
The prolific sci-fi director once mentioned that as George Lucas explored different planets with a unified ecosystem in his Star Wars movies, he plans to explore the equally various planes of Pandora with his sequels. With the different lands comes a new territory of tribes. The first Avatar was very much an exploration into the jungles of Pandora and the second took the story into the oceans. The notion of a new fire tribe gives an eerie resemblance to another franchise bearing the “Avatar” title. The Nickelodeon animated action show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, also is elemental based, with different martial arts factions who can manipulate one of four life elements; Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
While Avatar: The Way of Water continues to make bank, we will have to wait until 2024 for the next entry with the, as of yet untitled, Avatar 3, for the continuing adventures of the Sully family on Pandora.