Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Avatar: Fire & Ash
Avatar: Fire & Ash more than justified keeping Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) around. After dying in the first Avatar movie and returning in his own recombinant avatar body in The Way of Water, the third film very much proves he has major value as one of the franchise’s most interesting characters.
Following their major clash in 2023’s The Way of Water, Fire & Ash brilliantly reframes Quaritch as a dark reflection of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) himself. As such, the question now to be asked is whether Miles Quaritch’s return in future Avatar films would be just as worthwhile.
How Col. Quaritch Earned His Return In Avatar: Fire & Ash
Quaritch’s survival after The Way of Water, having already been resurrected from the first Avatar movie, could have felt cheap and repetitive. Instead, Fire & Ash makes Quaritch’s return more than worth it, providing some solid depth and dimension we hadn’t seen before from the RDA colonel.
The core of Quaritch’s major shift in Fire & Ash stems from his decision to ally the RDA with the Na’vi clan known as The Ash People, a group of violent raiders who’ve rejected Eywa. Furthermore, Quaritch’s romantic bond with the Ash People’s tsahik Varang (Oona Chaplin) also becomes critical.
As a result, Quaritch gradually starts looking more Na’vi than human, integrating himself within the Ash People’s culture further and further. It’s not hard to see the parallels between Quaritch’s newest chapter and Jake Sully’s first on Pandora, albeit from a much darker lens.
Ultimately, Quaritch becomes softened enough by the movie’s end to reject conflict with the Sully Family after he and Jake worked together to save Spider’s life (Quaritch’s biological human son, who’d been adopted by Jake). Leaping off a cliffside, it’s currently unknown whether he’s alive or dead.
Through this unique bond forged through their shared care for Spider, Jake repeatedly challenges Quaritch to actually see Pandora with new eyes in this new movie. While he’s by no means redeemed by the movie’s end, Quaritch is certainly conflicted enough to be left at a major crossoads by the ending of Fire & Ash.
Likewise, the ambiguity of his fate was clearly by design, leading audiences to wonder if we might see Col. Miles Quaritch return once more in the Avatar franchise’s future.
Should Quaritch Return (Again) In Avatar 4?
When and if Quaritch returns in Avatar 4, it likely won’t be an outright villain again. After all, Fire & Ash very much proved he’s far more interesting in this new moral limbo.
A reluctant truce with the Sully Family could be fascinating. Not friendship or forgiveness, but perhaps one of shared necessity in the face of a much bigger threat, especially if the RDA is ready to cut the colonel loose. Likewise, Quaritch’s relationship with Spider still has massive untapped potential. Genuine attempts to connect could see Quaritch working towards a more redemptive arc as well.
Avatar: Fire & Ash proved that Quaritch has earned his place as an ongoing character in the franchise with a future that’s very much worth exploring, assuming we do indeed get Avatar 4 and 5.
James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire & Ash is now playing in theaters.
- Release Date
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December 19, 2025
- Runtime
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197 Minutes
- Writers
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Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno
- Producers
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Jon Landau, James Cameron, Brigitte Yorke, Jamie Landau, Maria Battle-Campbell
