Watch their bond intensify when the new film debuts in theaters this December.
Life was already complicated for Spider, the orphaned human boy Jake Sully and Neytiri took in as their own. Then his biological father, Col. Miles Quaritch, returned from the dead — reborn in a hulking Na’vi ‘recombinant’ body and still set on destroying Jake and Neytiri’s clan. With the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in the Avatar series, watch the thorny father-son dynamic get pushed to its breaking point.
“They reconnect out of necessity,” says Stephen Lang, who plays Quaritch, hinting at uneasy alliances that force enemies onto the same side — at least temporarily. “Their connection is not a solo connection. There are times when everybody comes together on some level. But, when enemies cooperate, you can be sure betrayal is just around the corner.”
The ties that bind them are messy at best and potentially volatile. “Spider confuses Quaritch,” Lang adds. “But Quaritch wants clarity. There is something about Spider that Quaritch really loves — not a word we associate with him. I think respect and admiration really develop in spades, as well as animosity and manipulation. The relationship will deepen — for better or worse.” Expect admiration and distrust as both characters navigate shifting loyalties after Neteyam’s death.
With Jake and Neytiri still mourning their eldest son and Pandora on the brink of all-out war, Spider must choose where — and with whom — he truly belongs. For Quaritch, fatherhood may prove to be the one battlefield he never learned to command.
Watch Avatar: Fire and Ash only in theaters December 19, 2025.
And revisit the first two films in the series, Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, available to stream now on Disney+.
This information originally appeared in Empire magazine.
