Avatar: Fire and Ash director James Cameron had interesting revelations about the movie in the Vanity Fair video from Wednesday, November 19, 2025. The auteur revealed that Zoë Saldaña was the first to join Avatar. But the highlight of the video was when Cameron revealed the actors who could've played Jake Sully in the movie:“There were three young actors that were really nowhere in their careers at the time. All three of them went on to be movie stars. I had to choose between them, and I did a series of screen tests. First, it was a straight audition. Then I set up real screen tests, on sets. There was a lab set, a jungle set. Zoë came in and tested with everybody, and Sam was the one I kept going back to. The studio disagreed. The Fox guys liked the other guys better. I’ll say, one of them was Channing Tatum. It could’ve been Channing Tatum! (Sam) is the guy I would follow into battle, I would follow him into hell. He spoke in a way that resonated."These were the actors considered for Avatar's Jake Sully:While Cameron mentioned only Chaning Tatum and Sam Worthington by name, it is known that Matt Damon was considered for Jake Sully. The actor himself addressed this in a 2023 interview with CNN's Chris Wallace. The reporter brought up Damon getting an offer in the 2009 James Cameron sci-fi blockbuster. To this, Matt Damon said:“I’m sure it’s the most money an actor ever turned down, you know?”Then Damon further revealed that he was under a contract for a Bourne movie at that time:“I had a contract. I was in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie and I knew that we were going to need work at the end and I had to get it all the way to the finish line and I would have to leave the movie kind of early and leave them in the lurch a little bit and I didn’t want to do that. I desperately wanted to work with Cameron. I mean, because he worked so rarely.”Both Damon and Tatum went on to become a part of major blockbusters: View this post on Instagram Instagram PostFans have loved Damon and Christopher Nolan's previous team-ups, Interstellar and Oppenheimer. Hype continues to build for The Odyssey, releasing on July 17, 2026, Nolan's next movie. Meanwhile, Channing Tatum finally entered the MCU last year with Deadpool & Wolverine.Tatum was set to play the mutant Gambit in 2016 in a movie that got cancelled. As fans lost hope, Deadpool & Wolverine brought back the memories of this abandoned project. The positive reception convinced Marvel to include Channing Tatum's Remy LeBeau/Gambit in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, which is also releasing in 2026.What's next for the Avatar franchise? View this post on Instagram Instagram PostThe franchise currently consists of two movies, with the third installment, Fire and Ash, releasing next month. Moreover, the fourth and fifth movies are scheduled for release in December 2029 and 2031, respectively."With “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” James Cameron takes audiences back to Pandora in an immersive new adventure with Marine turned Na’vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Na’vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the Sully family."Is Sam Worthington synonymous with Jake Sully for you? Let us know. As we wait for Avatar: Fire and Ash's December 19, 2025, release, re-watch the first two movies on Disney+.