Avatar: Fire & Ash's Sam Worthington And Stephen Lang Reveal How Pandora Has Affected Jake And Quaritch [Exclusive]

Not every movie can claim to have literally changed the world the way "Avatar" did in 2009, but even that is nothing compared to the effects that Pandora itself has had on the characters that populate James Cameron's fantasy universe. The long-awaited sequel "The Way of Water" showed exactly how this idyllic moon has transformed both our heroes and villains alike — Sam Worthington's Jake Sully grew from a soldier into a family man, while Stephen Lang's villainous Colonel Quaritch came back from the dead in the form of his most hated extraterrestrial enemy. This year's upcoming "Fire & Ash" is set to continue the longstanding rivalry between the two figures, though not before Pandora leaves its mark even further on our main duo.

As the moviegoing public gets ready to return to "Avatar," /Film's Bill Bria sat down with the cast to talk about the threequel. Both Worthington and Lang have the best point of view on the arcs their respective characters have undergone over the years, but especially in one key way: The more they evolve, the more they seem to stay the same. This push and pull defines what they go through in "Fire & Ash," by all accounts, which they (carefully) opened about while avoiding spoilers. According to Lang:

"The true answer is that [Quaritch is] an evolution. He's still part of — as he says [in the movie], 'I'm still Quaritch.' And the truth is, I do feel that Quaritch will always be Quaritch no matter how he evolves, no matter what ... people are always using the word redemption, redemptive arc, with the character. He's unable to betray his own fundamental DNA as Quaritch. Yeah. He's an animal of war, and he's born to be an animal of war."

For all the intricate world-building details and expansive lore sprinkled throughout the "Avatar" movies, the central metaphor is pretty straightforward. Even as both Sully and Quaritch now walk around Pandora in their Na'vi forms thanks to the groundbreaking avatar technology (known as "Recombinant" or "Recom," for short), they still can't quite escape their most human inclinations. Fans can expect that deeply personal struggle to continue in "Fire & Ash," even as the marketing continues to tease epic twists and grand revelations to come. As Sam Worthington explained to /Film:

"It's an interesting conceit, you brought it up, is that Pandora has such an effect on the characters, especially these two [Sully and Quaritch] because they're from Earth. And it's almost like when you step into the avatar form or the Recom Na'vi form, you become more human. And then all the struggles of what it is to be human start to kind of push on you more. But it's Pandora drawing stuff out of these characters."

"So they're always going to hold on ... They're always going to try to grease into who they were. The dumb grunt and the colonel. But they're being transformed."

Worthington leaves plenty of room for interpretation here, as many could take a more spiritual read on that quote about being "transformed" if so inclined. Perhaps "Fire & Ash" will pit Quaritch's stubbornness and rigidity against Jake's willingness to adapt to his new environment as the main philosophical dilemma between the two. Who will come out on top this time? (Their last fight at the end of "The Way of Water" ended in a draw, effectively.) We'll find out when "Fire & Ash" arrives December 19, 2025.