Timeline of Avatar Movies – Release Order & Story Chronology
Trying to figure out when each Avatar movie happens, and in what order to watch them? You’re not alone. The saga stretches across decades on Pandora and years in real-world cinema, so a clear timeline makes life a lot easier.
This guide focuses on James Cameron’s Avatar film series – the epic sci-fi saga set on Pandora – and walks through both the release dates and the in-universe chronological timeline, including the upcoming sequels planned through 2031.
Quick Avatar Movie Timeline (At a Glance)
Let’s start simple. Here’s a quick table that shows each movie, its release date, and roughly when it takes place in the story.
| Film | Cinematic Release (Planned) | In-Universe Timeframe | Timeline Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avatar | December 18, 2009 | 2154 (late 22nd century) | Jake Sully arrives on Pandora; first major RDA–Na’vi war. |
| Avatar: The Way of Water | December 16, 2022 | Around 2170 (about 15–16 years after the first film) | Jake and Neytiri are parents; the RDA returns with a larger, more brutal presence. |
| Avatar: Fire and Ash (Avatar 3) | December 19, 2025 (scheduled) | Early 2170s, shortly after Way of Water | The Sully family confronts grief and the fire-aligned Mangkwan “Ash People”. |
| Avatar 4 (working title) | December 21, 2029 (scheduled) | Time jump – several years after Fire and Ash | Planned to jump forward in time; parts of the film were shot early to keep the young cast’s ages consistent. |
| Avatar 5 (working title) | December 19, 2031 (scheduled) | Late 2170s / early 2180s (projected) | Expected to include action on Earth and close the main saga. |
So far, the release order and the story order are the same — you just follow the films as they come out. As more sequels arrive (especially with time jumps), this table will help you keep the big picture straight.
Release Order
- Avatar (2009)
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
- Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025, upcoming)
- Avatar 4 (2029, upcoming)
- Avatar 5 (2031, upcoming)
Chronological Story Order
Right now, the story timeline follows the exact same sequence as the release order. Future time jumps (especially in Avatar 4) might make that a bit more complex, but the safest approach is simply: watch them in the order they hit cinemas.
Avatar (2009) – The Beginning of the Pandora Timeline
The original Avatar drops us into the year 2154, on the lush moon Pandora, orbiting a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri system. It’s the foundation for every other date in the series: when fans talk about “years after the first film”, they’re always counting forward from this point.
Former Marine Jake Sully is brought to Pandora to operate an avatar body after his twin brother’s death. Through him, we see the clash between the human corporation RDA and the indigenous Na’vi, who live in deep spiritual connection with their world and its guiding force, Eywa.
Main Timeline Events in the First Movie
- 2154 – Arrival on Pandora: Jake joins the Avatar Program, meeting scientists like Grace Augustine and the Omaticaya clan for the first time.
- Training & Bonding: Months pass as Jake learns Na’vi ways, falls in love with Neytiri, and slowly switches his loyalty from the RDA to the people of Pandora.
- Destruction of Hometree: The RDA’s assault on the Omaticaya’s giant home tree crystallizes the conflict and forces Jake to choose a side.
- Battle for Pandora: A massive confrontation ends with the humans being expelled from the moon (with a few exceptions), and Jake permanently transferring his consciousness into his Na’vi avatar.
The key thing for the timeline: by the end of the film, human corporate power has been pushed off Pandora, and Jake has fully become Na’vi. That “reset” lets later stories explore what happens when humanity inevitably comes back.
Why the First Movie Matters for the Timeline
- It establishes 2154 as the base year for future stories.
- It sets up the RDA vs. Na’vi conflict that continues through every sequel.
- It introduces Jake and Neytiri’s relationship, which becomes the emotional backbone of the whole saga.
Every later film either shows the consequences of this first war or builds toward an even bigger clash between human industry and Pandora’s living network.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) – A Time Jump into the 2170s
Avatar: The Way of Water arrives more than a decade after the first film in our world, and roughly 15–16 years later in Pandora’s timeline. Multiple sources place it around 2170, with Jake and Neytiri now parents to several children.
This jump is crucial: it allows the story to shift from “outsider joining the Na’vi” to “family defending its home”. The new stakes aren’t just about a planet anymore – they’re about kids, legacy, and belonging.
Key Timeline Points in The Way of Water
- ~2170 – The Sully Family Era: Jake and Neytiri have children: Neteyam, Lo’ak, Tuk, their adopted daughter Kiri, and the human teenager Spider. Their lives show how much time has passed since the first war.
- The RDA Returns: Earth’s situation has worsened, and humanity now comes back not just to mine resources, but to prepare Pandora as a new home.
- Metkayina & the Seas of Pandora: The Sullys seek refuge with the ocean-dwelling Metkayina clan, expanding the geography of the franchise and setting up ocean-based culture, creatures, and spiritual bonds.
- New Generational Focus: Much of the plot is driven by the children, especially Lo’ak and Kiri, hinting that the future sequels will be their story just as much as Jake’s.
From a timeline perspective, The Way of Water answers a big question fans had after 2009: “What happens to Pandora after the humans leave?” The answer is: peace for a while… until heavier forces return with bigger ships, more dangerous tech, and a long-term colonization plan.
In the timeline, the gap between Avatar and The Way of Water is where families are built, cultures adapt, and the shadow of the next war slowly grows.
How The Way of Water Sets Up the Sequels
The second film doesn’t just continue the story – it re-positions the entire saga:
- It introduces new regions and cultures (like the Metkayina), hinting that each sequel will spotlight different parts of Pandora.
- It shifts the emotional core toward the Sully children, making it easier to follow them through multiple time jumps.
- It ends with major losses, especially Neteyam’s death, which directly shapes the plot of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
That loss, and the unresolved conflict with Quaritch, is exactly where the next chapter picks up.
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) – Darker Years on the Horizon
The third film, officially titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, is scheduled for release on December 19, 2025. It continues the story only about a year after the events of The Way of Water, keeping us in the early 2170s.
Instead of another huge time skip, this chapter focuses on grief, fallout, and escalation. Jake and Neytiri’s family are still reeling from Neteyam’s death, and Pandora itself feels more dangerous, more unstable.
Where Fire and Ash Fits in the Timeline
- Direct sequel: The story picks up roughly a year after the Sullys have settled with the Metkayina clan.
- The Ash People: We meet the Mangkwan clan, also called the “Ash People” – a fire-associated Na’vi tribe with a harsher, more aggressive edge.
- Moral complexity: Cameron has emphasized that this film challenges the simple idea that “all humans are bad, all Na’vi are good,” making the timeline feel more like living history and less like a fairy tale.
Instead of jumping far ahead, Fire and Ash digs deep into the emotional consequences of the previous movie. Those consequences are what bridge the story into Avatar 4 and 5, which together complete a long multi-film arc.
Quick thought: if the first movie is about discovering Pandora, and the second is about learning to live in harmony with it, Fire and Ash seems poised to show what happens when that harmony is pushed right to the breaking point.
Avatar 4 (2029) – A Time Jump into the Next Generation
Very little is officially known about Avatar 4, but one point keeps coming up in interviews: there will be a significant time jump. Producer Jon Landau explained that parts of the movie – especially its first act – were filmed early to keep the young actors from aging out of their roles.
Avatar 4 is currently scheduled for December 21, 2029. That puts it four years after Fire and Ash in real time, and likely several years ahead in the story as well.
Projected Timeline Position
- After early 2170s: If Fire and Ash happens shortly after Way of Water, Avatar 4 probably moves us into the late 2170s or even beyond.
- The kids grow up: The time jump allows the Sully children and other young characters to grow into full protagonists, not just “the next generation” in the background.
- Part of a larger arc: Cameron has described the story as an epic cycle spanning movies 3, 4, and 5, so expect Avatar 4 to feel like a later chapter in the same long war rather than a standalone adventure.
Because the script and internal screenings for Avatar 4 impressed studio executives so strongly, there’s a lot of curiosity about how far the timeline will jump and what Pandora looks like after another decade of conflict.
Avatar 5 (2031) – Taking the Story to Earth
Avatar 5, planned for December 19, 2031, is expected to close the main film saga. While many story details are still under wraps, both James Cameron and producer Jon Landau have confirmed a major shift: part of the action will move from Pandora to Earth.
In timeline terms, this probably places the story in the late 2170s or early 2180s, after decades of tension between human civilization and the Na’vi. The idea is to contrast Pandora’s thriving ecosystems with an Earth heavily damaged by pollution and climate change.
Why Earth Matters for the Timeline
- Full circle storytelling: The first Avatar briefly shows Earth as a bleak, overcrowded place. Returning there decades later allows the saga to bookend Jake’s journey and Neytiri’s perception of humanity.
- Character arcs: Landau has said that the trip to Earth is meant to “open people’s eyes, open Neytiri’s eyes” to what humans are really like – not just the RDA.
- Big timeline question: How do the Na’vi physically reach Earth? Interstellar travel takes years. Fans are already debating what new technology – or spiritual connection – will make that possible.
There’s also a practical note: Cameron has said more than once that the later sequels depend on the success of the earlier ones. For now, all five films are planned and dated, but studios can still adjust if needed.
How Comics & Games Fill the Gaps Between the Movies
If you want a deeper timeline than just the movies, there are officially connected stories that fill in key years between the films.
Graphic Novels
- Avatar: The Next Shadow – set shortly after the first film, following the political fallout among the Omaticaya.
- Avatar: The High Ground – a three-volume graphic novel set in 2168, about 14 years after Avatar and directly before The Way of Water.
- Avatar: The Gap Year – Tipping Point – continues to close the gap between the original movie and the second, focusing on the Sully family during renewed conflict.
Video Game
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world game that Cameron has confirmed as canon.
- It takes place about 15 years after the first film, around 2169.
- The story unfolds in the Western Frontier, a different continent on Pandora, parallel to the lead-up to The Way of Water.
These stories don’t replace the films, but they enrich the timeline. If you ever feel like there’s a missing year or a jump in character development between movies, odds are there’s a comic or game living in that gap.
Do You Need to Read or Play Everything?
No. If you’re mainly interested in the movie timeline, you can happily follow just the films. The extra media is like detailed footnotes – great if you love the world, optional if you’re just wathcing for the main story.
FAQ: Common Questions About the Avatar Movie Timeline
1. What’s the best order to watch the Avatar movies?
Right now, the simplest and most useful approach is release order:
- Avatar (2009)
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
- Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
- Avatar 4 (2029)
- Avatar 5 (2031)
Because the story was designed as a continuous arc, this order also doubles as the chronological story order, including all the announced sequels.
2. How many years pass between Avatar and The Way of Water?
The consensus is that about 15–16 years pass between the first and second films, moving the story from 2154 to around 2170. That’s why Jake and Neytiri have teenage children by the time we see them again.
3. Are Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 guaranteed?
Both films have planned release dates and are in active development, but Cameron has been open that later sequels depend on how well the earlier movies perform at the box office. For now, the working plan is to continue the story through 2031.
4. Do Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” movies belong to this timeline?
No. Despite sharing the word “Avatar”, James Cameron’s Pandora saga and Nickelodeon’s bending universe are completely separate franchises with different worlds, characters, and timelines. If you’re planning content or watchlists, it usually makes sense to treat them as two independent timelines.
5. Will we see more stories between the movies?
Almost certainly. Alongside the announced films, Cameron is already working with partners on graphic novels, video games, and even a planned animated anthology project that will explore untold stories on Pandora.
Each of these expands the timeline without replacing the main film sequence, giving fans more layers to explore if they want to dive deeper.
Putting the Avatar Timeline Together
If you stand back and look at the full picture, the movies trace an enormous arc from 2154 to at least the late 2170s – more than two decades of war, loss, adaptation, and fragile peace on Pandora (and eventually Earth).
- Avatar – discovery, colonization, first resistance.
- The Way of Water – family, oceans, and the second wave of colonization.
- Fire and Ash – grief, fire, and a darker phase of the conflict.
- Avatar 4 – big time jump, grown-up children, and a wider view of Pandora’s future.
- Avatar 5 – the long journey back to Earth and a final reckoning between human civilization and the values of Pandora.
The timeline isn’t just a list of dates; it’s a way of seeing how each film adds a new layer: new cultures, new ecosystems, new generations. When you watch them with the years in mind, small details – like casual mentions of Earth’s condition or old battles – suddenly feel like pieces of a much larger historical tapestry.
Next time you rewatch the films, try keeping an eye on the years as well as the visuals. Pandora’s history becomes clearer, and the journey from the first battle for Hometree to the distant future of Avatar 5 feels even more powerful.
