Spoilers ahead for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
James Cameron movies are known for their cutting-edge technology, especially the way motion capture and visual effects were used in the Avatar films (which are streaming with a Disney+ subscription). The threequel Fire and Ash won at the box office, and introduced fans to a new type of Nai’vi: the Mangkwan aka Ash People. Actress Oona Chaplin led this group as the villainous Varang, and recently teased where she thinks her story could continue in future sequels.
Critical response for Avatar: Fire and Ash has been mixed, but most critics are agreed at that Chaplin’s Varang was a real high point of the third film. Avatar 3‘s ending saw a big death scene, but not for Chaplin’s character. While speaking with Gold Derby about what comes next for Varang, the actress offered:
There’s an interesting evolution for the Ash People and what part they play in the greater arc of this Pandora epic. I’m excited to keep exploring her … there are so many cool possibilities moving forward.
It was fascinating to learn about the Ash People, who became violent and rage-fueled after Eywa failed to save them from from a volcano that burned down their village. They were given weapons by Quaritch which made them even more terrifying, but still lost the movie’s final battle. Will Varang be even more radicalized moving forward, or will she take away a different lesson from this loss?
Later in the same interview, Chaplin herself questioned what might be coming next if/when she returns to Pandora for Avatar 4. She mused about how Varang might have reacted to Quaritch’s presumed death, saying:
I wonder how much she will inherit of his vendetta against Jake. Their dynamic is so juicy, and will obviously change now that Quaritch has fallen into flame. You really see Quaritch wrestling with his new existence by the end of the movie. He’s still white knuckling to keep ahold of his old identity, but he also understands that he needs to evolve in a new way. Varang provides an answer to him in that way. He sees that there’s a different way to live out there.
Quaritch and Varang’s relationship was one of the most viral part of Fire and Ash, moving the story forward while also providing plenty of comedic beats. But they’ve been separated, and it’s unclear if she will continue the mission they started or move on. We’ll just have to wait and see if the final two Avatar movies are actually green lit and produced.
While the Avatar movies were originally announced to be a five-film series, James Cameron put doubt on if we’ll actually get the final two installments. There are certainly more narrative threads to pull from, but it’ll seemingly depend on how Fire and Ash does at the box office. In that interview, Oona Chaplin spoke more about where she thinks Varang’s story could go, saying:
Varang carries such a heavy load of trauma, which is good because she grows into her strength by harnessing the power of her weakness. Fear is like gasoline to her, although she’d never admit it. In that way, she’s also like a warning for what happens when you let hatred become your coping mechanism. What happens when you let the fury take over?
This hatred, as well as the way she was able to use her Na’vi queue as a weapon, is a big reason why Varang was such a terrifying force throughout Fire and Ash‘s runtime. But she was able to survive the final battle, and her story could seemingly go anywhere in a fourth movie. That is, assuming the studio actually green lights another chapter in James Cameron‘s epic saga.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list, and the first two movies are streaming on Disney+. Hopefully we get news one way or another about the franchise’s future soon.
