Michelle Yeoh ‘s journey to Pandora is happening later than expected.

“ Avatar ” director James Cameron has announced that Yeoh's character, scientist Dr. Karina Mogue, will not be featured in the forthcoming third installment, officially named “ Avatar: Fire and Ash .”

“Michelle Yeoh won't be in part 3. She's in parts 4 and 5,” Cameron revealed to Entertainment Weekly at Disney's D23 convention. “That was reported incorrectly.”

In 2021, the late producer Jon Landau posted a photo of Yeoh on the set of the third “Avatar” film, suggesting that Yeoh would appear in that entry. (Cameron shot “Fire and Ash” and parts of “Avatar 4” concurrently with 2022’s “ Avatar: The Way of Water .”)

“She will be joining the cast soon to take on her role, which is an intriguing and enjoyable character,” Cameron clarified to EW. “We're getting ahead of ourselves now. This entire project has been planned for a long time. The scripts were all written years in advance, all the way through the end of film 5. We've been working on parts of film 4 even while we progress, mostly due to our young cast. We had to shoot them all while they were still young.”

“We admire Michelle,” the director added. “She's always been a movie star, but her popularity has skyrocketed into a massive phenomenon. I'm looking forward to working with her.”

At the D23 expo on Aug. 9, Cameron and “Avatar” stars Zoe Saldaña and Sam Worthington announced the official title for the third “Avatar” installment, and also displayed some concept art from the film.

“You’ll witness a lot more of Pandora than you’ve ever seen before,” Cameron informed the audience. “It’s a mind-blowing adventure and a visual spectacle, but it also has incredibly high emotional stakes, more than ever before.”

The third installment is currently scheduled to debut in theaters on Dec. 19, 2025, followed by “Avatar 4” on Dec. 21, 2029, and “Avatar 5” on Dec. 19, 2031.