What could ‘Avatar 3’ be about?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Avatar: The Way of Water.

After more than a decade, we have finally seen the follow-up to James Cameron’s Avatar with the release of Avatar: The Way of Water. Luckily, it will not be as much of a wait for the next entry in the Avatar franchise, as Cameron was making the third film alongside the second one, and it should be released in December 2024.

While we know when Avatar 3 is supposed to be released, we have yet to learn much about the film’s plot. As we take a look at the ending of Avatar: The Way of Water, let us speculate where exactly a third film might take our heroes and attempt to figure out what might happen in Avatar 3.

What could happen in Avatar 3?

Avatar: The Way of Water advances the franchise in a number of ways, which is impressive because it also retreads much of Avatar’s story. The film manages to introduce new characters, new locations, new ideas, and new plot motivations. Nearly everything introduced in the new film ends up being unresolved by the end of the movie so there is a good chance that they will answer some of the questions we have in Avatar 3. 

Starting with the obvious, the end of Avatar: The Way of Water directly sets up the events of the next film. After he spends three-quarters of the movie running away from the humans and Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), we see Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) finally commit to an all-out war between the humans and the Na’vi. Therefore, you could assume that a large part, if not the entirety of, the next movie will be a war on Pandora with Jake rallying the Na’vi against the humans. The chances that we will get a look at life on Earth are slim if we are getting Avatar 4, but if Avatar 3 is the last film in the franchise we might go to Earth. However, with the financial success of the film, it does seem like we will get more sequels, so Earth might be off the table for this entry.  

After the death of their son, Neteyam, Jake and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) will have undoubtedly changed, and they will probably be more ruthless in their actions as they try to protect their remaining children. It is likely that Jake will attempt to unite the Na’vi in the war against the humans, bringing the Omatikaya and Metkayina Clans together, as well as the clans we have not seen yet. Hopefully, Neytiri has a larger role in the next film, as her scenes in Avatar: The Way of Water felt limited at times, and her combat skills could see her playing a big role in the war to come. 

While we are mentioning how ruthless they will be, there is also the possibility that Spider will betray the Na’vi after witnessing Neytiri slaughtering the humans at the end of Avatar: The Way of Water. We know that while he was still antagonistic toward his father, Colonel Quaritch, he did save his life at the end of the film. There is the possibility that Neytiri will push him away resulting in the humans recruiting Spider to take down the Na’vi. 

That could also cause problems for Jake and Neytiri’s children, especially Kiri, as the pair share a very close relationship. They were both adopted into the Sully family, although Spider is much more of an outsider than she is. What might happen is Quaritch could get the Resources Development Administration (RDA) to develop an avatar for Spider, so he could fully acclimate to the Na’vi experience, or the RDA could just kidnap Kiri. Either way, Spider could be a main factor in the plot of future Avatar films. 

As for Kiri, it is likely that her connection with Eywa will be explored in a future film, but it would be tough to speculate in what way. It is likely that they will bring in the avatar of her mother, Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), as they are keeping her avatar body in some kind of stasis even though she died in the first film. There is the possibility that Grace could somehow come back to life as well. 

We have already seen characters in this world return in interesting ways, like Colonel Quaritch coming back as a recom in the second film after dying in the first. We have also seen characters after they die, like when Jake and Neytiri experience memories of Neteyam when he was younger after his funeral. Because that process involved Eywa, it might be possible for Kiri to somehow implant the memories of Dr. Augustine back into her avatar body.

It would also make sense if either Jake or Neytiri were to die in the next film. Other than the death of Neteyam, the film had nearly no stakes with most of the people in Avatar: The Way of Water surviving. If you look back at Cameron’s films, couples usually do not get to live happily together for long. With Jack dying in Titanic and Kyle Reese dying in The Terminator, it would not be too out of left field for one of the lead characters to die. 

There is also the idea that the third film will introduce us to a new side of Pandora. The first movie had Jake infiltrate the Omatikaya Clan among mountains and forest land. Avatar: Way of the Water has Jake and his family flee the mountains to go to the Metkayina Clan to seek shelter, and they live at the water. There have been rumors that the third film will introduce a clan that is associated with fire.

If a fire clan were to be introduced, it is likely that they will be living near a volcano, which should be interesting. Apparently, Cameron also intends to make this group more antagonistic than the Na’vi we have already met, so we could see a darker side of them in Avatar 3. As for the terrain, both the mountains and the water have played a part in the first two films, so it is likely that whatever terrain is introduced in Avatar 3 will play a pivotal role. 

There is also the chance that we could see something happen as a result of the Amrita, the fluid mined from the Tulkun that when consumed grants immortality to humans. It seems weird that they would introduce the substance in what felt like a throwaway scene and not mention it again in a future film, but Avatar: The Way of Water was not filled to the brim with references to Unobtainium either, so it could go either way. 

We also must ask what remains of the human side of the war. We saw Quaritch’s forces get slaughtered by Neytiri, and if they have any chance of winning against a fully organized Na’vi assault, they need to have something up their sleeves. Either the humans have a number of recoms waiting in the wings that we do not know about, or Avatar 3 is going to be packed full of heavy equipment, robots, and vehicles to make it a war between the machines and Pandora. 

However, things are not looking good for Colonel Quaritch. Before he was killed in the first film, the RDA made a Na’vi clone of his body, so they knew there was a good chance he might not come back from the mission. After he dies, he comes back as a recom but proceeds to fail in capturing or killing Sully again. It is likely that they will not send him in for the third time, especially if the next film has the Na’vi present a united front. If they don’t, he will undoubtedly work as a rogue agent anyway.

Instead, they might rely on General Ardmore (Edie Falco) to lead the war against the Na’vi as she was doing a fine job ordering around the RDA forces while Quaritch was out of commission. They could always introduce a new character to lead up the RDA as well, someone in addition to Ardmore or Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi). It would be impactful if they somehow managed to bring in somebody who was more intimidating than Quaritch. 

The good news is we probably don’t have to sit here and ramble off what the name of the film might be. However, if Cameron does introduce a fire tribe, Avatar: The Fear of the Fire does have a nice ring to it. The prospective title of the film that has been mentioned as being in the running for the third outing in the Avatar franchise is Avatar: The Seed Bearer. Confirmation of a title should come soon, as well as confirmation of sequels beyond a third film. 

Any way it shakes out, we are probably in for a magnificent experience with Avatar 3. Let’s just hope the 2024 date does not move too far back if the film does get rescheduled; most people probably don’t want to wait another decade for the next installment in the Avatar franchise. Avatar 3 is scheduled to soar into theaters on Dec. 20, 2024.