If James Cameron actually gets to make Avatar 4, the film will reverse course on a major trend. The Avatar franchise debuted in 2009 and went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time, toppling one of Cameron’s own blockbusters, Titanic. The second sequel, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has just been released in theaters, with the future of the franchise hinging on its box office success, according to the director.
Sigourney Weaver announced a major revelation about the future of Avatar during an interview with Jake Hamilton. She revealed that Avatar 4 will see her character, Kiri, take over as the narrator of the film. “It’s a major part of the saga for Kiri,” she explained, before adding that she’s been holding on to this secret for about 12 years.
Sigourney Weaver: “Well, I narrate the next one, 4. It’s a major part of the saga for Kiri.”
Jake Hamilton: “When did you find out?”
Weaver: “Oh, like 12 years ago.”
Kiri, being the narrator in Avatar 4, breaks a trend set by the first three movies in the series. Protagonist Jake Sully narrated the first two Avatar installments, while his and Neytiri’s son Lo’ak narrates Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is now in theaters.
Not only will this be the first time a female character steps in as the narrator, but Kiri will also be the first non-biological member of the Sully family to narrate an Avatar movie. Jake and Neytiri adopted Kiri, who was introduced in The Way of Water as Dr. Grace Augustine’s avatar daughter.
Kiri underwater in Avatar The Way of Water
Almost three years before Fire and Ash was released, Cameron let slip that Lo’ak would be narrating the third film and added that each of the sequels after The Way of Water would feature a different narrator, which means that after Kiri narrates Avatar 4, another character will narrate Avatar 5.
At the time, the director noted that audiences really gravitated towards Lo’ak in the first two films, so it made sense to center Jake and Neytiri’s son more going forward.
As exciting as this revelation is, there’s no guarantee that Avatar 4 will actually get made. It’s no secret that the Avatar films are very expensive to make, so the return on investment needs to be worth it for Disney to continue greenlighting more installments in this series. The first Avatar grossed $2.923 billion at the box office, while The Way of Water earned $2.343 billion.
Cameron recently admitted that he won’t get the chance to make the fourth film if the third underperforms, even though he’s already completed some initial filming for the project. While it’s true that Avatar: Fire and Ash needs to be successful to keep the franchise alive, the director may be trying to generate support from audiences to ensure he can continue telling stories in Pandora.
Avatar 4 is currently scheduled for December 21, 2029, with Avatar 5 following on December 19, 2031. Those plans could change, especially now that Cameron is eyeing a return to the Terminator franchise after directing The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and producing Terminator: Dark Fate.
Only time will tell if Avatar 4 actually gets made, but if it does, the franchise will begin telling new stories as other characters like Weaver’s Kiri take over.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is now in theaters.
Release Date
December 21, 2029
Producers
Jon Landau
