Love or hate the Avatar movies, it's hard to deny that the world of Pandora is visually breathtaking. From lush jungles to blue skies and, in 2022's The Way of Water, beautiful oceans, exploring the planet has been quite the experience.
However, when we travel to the home of the Mangkwan Clan (a.k.a. the Ash Clan) in Avatar: Fire and Ash, we'll explore the Ash Village, a location that's vastly different to what we've grown used to seeing in these movies.
That's evident from the newly released concept art below and, in an interview with Empire Online, production designer Dylan Cole explained, "[The Mangkwan] had a natural disaster befall them, and that sort of helped shape their culture. So much of the world of Pandora is rich and vibrant and full of life - this is just the exact opposite."
"They used to live not too dissimilarly to the Omatikaya from Avatar 1," he teased, suggesting something happened to fundamentally change this group of Na'vi. "Each new film gives us a chance to open up a door that was closed before and go, 'Check this out,'" added fellow production designer Ben Procter.
Avatar: The Way of Water was another record-breaking box office hit, earning $2.3 billion globally after largely positive reviews. Fire and Ash looks set to be another guaranteed success for Disney and could be a game-changer for the franchise if filmmaker James Cameron's previous hints about the fourth chapter bringing the Na'vi' to Earth are anything to go by.
Avatar: Fire and Ash was shot back-to-back with 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water. Cameron originally planned for them to be one movie, but soon realised there was too much material and expanded the story across parts two and three (a fourth instalment is also in development).
In the threequel, Jake and Neytiri will encounter the "Ash People," a new clan of Na'vi, though that's really all we have in terms of officially released plot details right now.
Oona Chaplin (Game of Thrones) plays the leader of the Ash People, Varang. David Thewlis and Michelle Yeoh are also joining the cast alongside returning stars Sam Worthington, Zeo Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Bailey Bass, Joel David Moore, Edie Falco, and Dileep Rao.
Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote Avatar: Fire and Ash and the movie will be released in theaters on December 19.