While Avatar: Fire and Ash explores war, environmental crisis, and loss, at its heart, it’s also a coming-of-age story — one told through the eyes of the young characters growing up in the chaos. For Bailey Bass (Tsireya), Jack Champion (Spider) and Trinity Bliss (Tuk), that emotional evolution is what gives the film its soul.
“We grow and evolve every day as people. So, we are watching the months go by,” Bass told Blavity’s Shadow and Act during our cast interview. “I feel like The Way of Water starts, and the Sully family has to leave their home. From that moment, the films, just from The Way of Water to Fire and Ash, it does not stop. It is go, go, go, go, go.”
And in that nonstop tension, the kids have no choice but to grow up quickly. “We see how war affects children and how they are forced to grow up so much faster,” she added. “And with Tsireya, she has to learn that she can’t just say, ‘Yes, Mom, yes, Dad,’ if she’s going to continue to be true to herself, because change — sometimes you need younger eyes to see change. And Tsireya really carries that torch in Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
Champion echoed that same pressure in Spider’s storyline. “Three starts off so soon after two,” he said. “And I feel like it really is also about trying to process everything that just happened, and then there’s just going to be more and more stuff that happens, because they’re living in a war zone, I guess.”
Growing up while everything falls apart
For Spider, the challenge is about staying grounded when the world around him is collapsing. “It really is just about trying to be true to yourself, and hold everything you love dear, and not let it get ripped away in the midst of all this chaos,” Champion said. “And I think, really, the movie shows that beautifully.”
Bliss said Tuk’s development was just as emotionally layered, especially after the events of The Way of Water. “Tuk and all these characters, I mean, the amount that they’ve gone through in The Way of Water. And now, she’s just a totally different person than who we met in The Way of Water, but also she’s still very true to herself,” she said.
“She’s the same Tuk, but the things she’s gone through — including the death of her beloved brother, and trying to deal with that and process that, but not really getting a chance to, because things just get more and more complicated. I think she’s had a lot of growth and then she’s going to grow a lot in Fire and Ash as well.”
Neytiri set the standard for strength
Bass added that the younger characters draw their strength from those who came before them — especially Neytiri.
“I think there’s also a parallel with Neytiri, because she was so young when her and Jake meet,” she said. “And she thought she knew what the world was, what her life would be, and then she goes through all of this trauma, and all of this trial and trial, but she doesn’t stop fighting.”
That example becomes the blueprint. “I think that’s the role model that the kids have,” Bass said. “That’s the role model that Tsireya, and Spider, and Tuk all have, is we’re looking at the adults that don’t stop fighting for what they believe in and that’s who raised us. So, that’s what we’re going to do.”