3 Things the Fourth Avatar Movie Needs to Be About (Including Something Never Seen in the Franchise)

The story of Avatar 4 is still a complete mystery, but after the events of Avatar: Fire and Ash, the next film needs to explore these three storylines. One of the biggest criticisms of the third film was that it was repetitive, and Avatar 4 can push past the territory of its predecessors if it does these three things.

At the end of Avatar: Fire and Ash, not a whole lot has changed in the world of Pandora. The RDA’s Tulkun hunting plan has been thwarted, but the humans are still operating on the planet. Meanwhile, Quaritch has allied with the Ash People yet become disillusioned with the RDA. He is last seen jumping off a high floating rock, leaving his fate a mystery to be resolved in the fourth film.

3) Avatar 4 Must Commit To Quaritch’s Redemption Arc

Colonel Quaritch is one of the most complex characters in the Avatar franchise, which is surprising considering that he was a fairly one-dimensional Marine jerk in the original film. Across the past two films, Quaritch has been torn between his original life as a human and his new life as a Na’vi. Throughout Fire and Ash, Quaritch is challenged by Jake to open his eyes to Eywa and change his ways. However, he refuses.

Quaritch’s relationship to his son and arc in Fire and Ash isn’t all that different to his arc in The Way of Water. This is mostly due to his accepting his villainous ways at the end of Fire and Ash, meaning that he hasn’t been redeemed. Instead, he just switched from being an RDA-aligned Jake Sully hater to an Ash People-aligned Jake Sully hater. If he returns in Avatar 4, the film needs to commit to exploring his redemption arc, with Jake Sully pushing him onto the right path.

2) Neytiri’s Hatred Of Sky People Should Be Challenged

Neytiri’s hatred of humans has grown immensely across the last two Avatar films, with her even threatening to kill her son Spider multiple times. Neytiri actress Zoe Saldaña has even gone so far as to call the character “a racist,” pointing out the irony of her being married to a human in Avatar form (via YouTube).

Fire and Ash sees Jake Sully point out this irony to Neytiri, but she doesn’t really change her ways. Neytiri still hates Sky People at the end of the film, and Avatar 4 should challenge this. Having Spider directly call Neytiri out, or having Colonel Quaritch get redeemed, could force Neytiri to reassess her beliefs and develop a more nuanced position.

1) Avatar 4 Needs To Actually Show Earth

So much of Avatar‘s story revolved around humans looking to move away from their destroyed Earth. However, the franchise still hasn’t shown the planet. Avatar 4 needs to finally show Earth, highlighting the destruction that the humans have caused to the planet. This would allow the audience to further understand the RDA’s motivations, while simultaneously making them even more despicable by showing the extent of their destruction.

It has been known for a while that Avatar 5 will see the Na’vi go to Earth, meaning that this could be held off until the fifth film. However, having the people of Pandora see Earth could motivate this trip, teasing the final film in the saga.