There are few things that can kill a franchise faster than repetition. Filmmakers can create a cinematic world full of vibrancy and eclectic characters, but audiences are going to get bored if the same basic plots and relationships get reused and/or don’t evolve. Even the box office powerhouse that is the Avatar series wouldn’t be immune to this, which is why director James Cameron is changing things up with the dynamic between Jake Sully and Col. Miles Quaritch in the upcoming Avatar: Fire And Ash.
Jake and Quaritch have been combative forces ever since the former joined the fight to stop humans from destroying Pandora in the original Avatar, and they had a hell of a tussle in the third act of Avatar: The Way Of Water, but we can expect something different from the two characters in the second sequel – which is now just a few weeks away from arriving in theaters. Discussing the conflict recently with Empire , Cameron explained,
It’s very uninteresting to just have two guys trying to kill each other for three movies, so it gets much snakier. Quaritch’s soul is very much in play in movie three.
Per the filmmaker, one major thing that is impacting the development of Miles Quaritch (played by Stephen Lang) is the existence of Miles “Spider” Socorro (Jack Champion) – the colonel’s 16-year-old son who lives as part of the Sully family. The hardened military leader is going to be grappling with questions of his existence and the nature of both who he is and was: his former human form biologically produced a child, but he is now a Recombinant and living in a Na’vi body.
As for his relationship with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), the franchise hero is not interested in pursuing his violent conflict with Quaritch further – per Cameron – and he wants his nemesis to eventually become his ally and connect deeper with the nature of Pandora. Added the filmmaker,
He could connect, he could plug in — Jake wants him to. 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.
James Cameron is certainly no stranger to “villain becomes the hero” plotting, as Arnold Schwarzenegger famously went from being an unstoppable killing machine in Terminator to being the world’s best body guard for humanity’s savior in T2: Judgement Day. Even if we don’t see Quaritch start to change sides in Avatar: Fire And Ash, there are still at least two more stories planned in the future – with Avatar 4 dated for December 2029 and Avatar 5 scheduled for December 2031.
Also featuring the talents of Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Kate Winslet in addition to the aforementioned Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang and Jack Champion, Avatar: Fire And Ash is set to be the biggest movie released at the end of 2025, and it will be arriving in theaters everywhere on December 19 (and it will be sporting an epic 195 minute runtime). Be sure to keep heading back here to CinemaBlend between now and then, as we’ll have plenty more coverage of the blockbuster on the way in the run up to the release.