Zoe Saldaña Already Thinks “Avatar: Fire and Ash” Will be the Most Compelling of all Five “Avatar” Films
The actress discussed the third Avatar film during an appearance on “GMA.”
Zoe Saldaña still has plenty of work to do to eventually complete the fourth and fifth Avatar movies, but she’s already pretty sure that the upcoming third film in the massive series is likely to be the most compelling when all is said and done.
What’s Happening:
- Zoe Saldaña appeared on Good Morning America to promote the new Pixar film Elio, which she has a voice role in. During the conversation, she was also asked about the next film in the Avatar franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which opens in December.
- Said Saldaña, who plays the Na’va Neytiri in the series, “I think it's going to be the most compelling of all five stories."
- The second Avatar film, The Way of Water, ended with (spoiler alert!) Jake and Neytiri’s eldest son, Neteyam, being killed. Saldaña went on to describe Fire and Ash as “a story where the Sullys are going to be tested to the utmost degree. They are going to be grieving, as we saw in Part 2. And you know, their theme is always Sullys stick together, and we'll get to see whether or not they're able to withstand just all the challenges that are coming towards them. But as a family too, how do they move past grieving so much - losing someone that was so important to them?"
- While Avatar is planned as a five-part franchise by James Cameron, it still stands out that Saldaña is already describing the third movie, Fire and Ash, as the one she thinks will be the most compelling by the end of the series. While the second and third films did all of their motion capture filming together, only some portions of the fourth film have been made, with the majority of work on both Avatar 4 and 5 still to be done.
Zoe in Space! …and on the Water
- Thanks primarily to her roles in the Avatar films and as Gamora in the MCU, Saldaña has become one of the highest grossing actresses in movie history, only rivaled by her fellow MCU alum, Scarlett Johansson. Saldaña has been in four different movies (the two Avatar films and Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame) that have grossed over two billion dollars each.
- Amongst her biggest financial successes, those four movies are followed by the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, which may not have reached a billion dollars, yet were each highly successful.
- Saldaña also has the three Star Trek reboot movies she played Uhura in to count among her many hits, and her roles as Neytiri, Gamora and Trek’s Uhura have led to many jokes about how much she’s played characters in outer space. However, in the midst of her top 11 highest grossing films, there is one in the mix that is not from the MCU, Avatar or Star Trek franchises and which doesn’t take place in outer space in any capacity. Yet it’s part of yet another huge franchise.
- That movie is 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the first film in the highly lucrative Pirates series. It is Saldaña’s eighth biggest movie, right below the three Guardians films and right above the Star Trek trilogy she was in. And though she never returned to the Pirates of the Caribbean films after her one appearance, it was quite the kick off for Saldaña appearing in one big franchise-starter after another.
- Directed by James Cameron, Avatar: Fire and Ash is produced by 20th Century Studios and Lightstorm Entertainment and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Jack Champion, Britain Dalton, Trinity Bliss, David Thewlis, Oona Chaplin and Bailey Bass.
- Avatar: Fire and Ash opens December 19th, 2025.
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