Avatar fans will have to wait longer to see Michelle Yeoh grace the world of Pandora as Dr Karina Mogue. That is because James Cameron, the maker of the Avatar films, has disclosed that she wouldn't feature in Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third part in the franchise, but would be in the fourth and fifth instalments.

"Michelle Yeoh won’t be in 3. She’s in 4 and 5,” said Cameron to Entertainment Weekly at the D23 expo, where he shared the third film's title and some concept art for it.

In 2021, the Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water producer, the late Jon Landau, shared a photograph of Yeoh with Cameron on the third film's set, hinting at a role role in it.

“So that got a little bit misreported,” stated Cameron.

The filmmaker shot Avatar: The Way of Water, Fire and Ash, and some of the fourth film at the same time.

"She will be coming in soon to do her part, which is an interesting, fun character. I mean, we’re getting ahead of ourselves now. This whole thing has been planned for years and years. The scripts were all written years ago, through the end of movie 5. So we’ve been working on parts of 4 even as we go along, mostly because we’ve got this young cast. We had to shoot them all while they were still young,” explained Cameron.

The third Avatar film is slated for a December 19, 2025, release.