In the Avatar series, the character of Colonel Miles Quaritch (played by Stephen Lang) has undergone a fascinating arc. From a hissable hoo-rah military baddie in the original film, to being killed and resurrected in blue-skinned form as a ‘recombinant’ Na’vi in The Way of Water — and now, with the third film Fire And Ash, Quaritch finds himself wrestling with the very question of who he is. Especially when there is the not-exactly-trifling matter of his estranged human son, Spider (Jack Champion).
“Quaritch is undergoing an identity crisis,” says writer-director James Cameron, in the latest issue of Empire. “His interest in the biological son of his biological precursor form is all about trying to define, ‘Am I a completely new person? Am I bound by the rules and the behaviours of the person whose memories and personality I was imprinted with?’ It’s a true existential dilemma for him in the philosophical sense.”
Quaritch 2.0 (or Blue-point-oh?) is clearly subtly but significantly different to the original character, who was an uncomplicated, straight-up villain. As his journey continues in his shiny new Na’vi body, expect more ambiguity to come. “At what point does he cross that line and realise he’s more Na’vi than he is human?” Cameron ponders.
Could he even — as previous iconic Cameron bad guys, such as The Terminator, have done before — undergo a transformation and join the good guys? The filmmaker is keeping schtum, but teases the possibility of Quaritch becoming more at one with Mother Eywa, the consciousness and deity of Pandora. “He could connect, he could plug in — Jake wants him to,” says Cameron. “I don’t want to tell you where it goes, but we’re gonna see all this play out, because Jake would rather have this guy on side.”
So, while he may not have a complete moral 180 degrees, there could be an uneasy alliance between former foes on the table, as Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) looks to protect his clan by any means necessary. “It’s very uninteresting to just have two guys trying to kill each other for three movies, so it gets much snakier,” Cameron says. “Quaritch’s soul is very much in play in movie three.”
Read the full interview with James Cameron in the new issue of Empire, in which he answers questions from you, the readers — including queries on the Pandoran calendar, whether ikran lay eggs, what he thinks of Alien: Earth — and whether we’ll ever see another Alita: Battle Angelfilm.
Find the answers to those questions, and more tantalising Avatar: Fire And Ash teases, in our massive 2026 Preview issue– on sale Thursday 20 November. Order a copy online here. Subscribe here to get the magazine every month. Avatar: Fire And Ash comes to UK cinemas from 19 December.
