Zoe Saldaña Showcases Avatar: Fire and Ash at CinemaCon 2025, Teases ‘Forsaken’ Na’vi

Zoe Saldaña is eager to take audiences back to Pandora once more.

On Thursday, April 3, Saldaña, 46, previewed Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third movie in filmmaker James Cameron’s groundbreaking science fiction series. Cameron was on set finalizing the project, and thus did not attend CinemaCon.

“As Jim has said, this film is unlike anything audiences have ever seen and it’s exactly what they want,” said Saldaña before the trailer ran for the in-house audience. “Fire and Ash expands the beautiful world of Pandora and introduces two new clans: The Windtraders are a peaceful, nomadic air-traveling clan, and the Ash People, who have forsaken the god.”

The new trailer depicts the Windtraders in vast ships in the air with gossamer wings, pulled by creatures modeled after manta rays. The military from Earth returns for the film, and the central conflict becomes more complex. There are plenty of emotional reunions to be expected between the franchise’s beloved characters.

Saldaña stars in the Avatar movies as the Na’vi character Neytiri, who shares a family with Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully by the end of 2022’s The Way of Water. The new movie picks up moments after The Way of Water ended with the death of Neytiri and Jake’s oldest son, Neteyem.

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Cameron, who began promoting Fire and Ash in a recent interview with Empire magazine, stated earlier in March that the third movie in the franchise “will actually be a little bit longer than movie two,” which already ran for three hours and 12 minutes. In that interview, the filmmaker stated that his wife Suzy Amis Cameron watched “the whole thing from end to end” for the first time in December 2024 and “bawled for four hours” afterward.

Fire and Ash brings back much of the cast from The Way of Water, as well as new casting additions Michelle Yeoh of Wicked, Edie Falco of The Sopranos, and more.

Saldaña’s appearance at CinemaCon comes roughly one month after she won her first Academy Award for her role in the musical drama Emilia Pérez.

Avatar: Fire and Ash will release in theaters Dec. 19. The franchise’s fourth installment is currently scheduled for release in December 2029, while Avatar 5 is currently expected to release in December 2031.