Star Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and the rest of the team are returning to the screen in 2020 for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. With lots of intrigue surrounding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, we know you want all the details. Here’s everything we know.
Director James Gunn’s 2014 cosmic adventure Guardians of the Galaxy and its 2017 sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, outperformed expectations by becoming two of the highest-grossing films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a roster of relatively unknown characters. The two films assembled a colorful cast of reluctant heroes led by actor Chris Pratt’s charismatic thief Peter Quill, and featuring Zoe Saldana as the assassin Gamora, Dave Bautista as the warrior Drax, Vin Diesel as the voice of the sentient tree Groot, and Bradley Cooper as the voice of brilliant weaponsmith Rocket Raccoon. The team was later joined by Karen Gillan as Gamora’s adopted sister, Nebula, and Pom Klementieff as the empathic Mantis.
After saving the universe not once but twice, the team of adventuring “a-holes” (their words, not ours) played a big part in Avengers: Infinity War, and will return to the screen for another solo adventure in 2020. Here’s everything we know about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 so far.
After directing the first two installments and announcing that he would write and direct the third, Gunn was abruptly fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in July 2018 after political pundits unearthed offensive tweets posted by the director almost a decade earlier.
The campaign to convince Disney to remove Gunn — an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump — eventually resulted in just that, with the studio’s chairman, Alan Horn, declaring “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”
It’s unknown at this point who will be in the director’s chair when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 begins filming, or if this incident will push back the project’s production timeline.
Gunn initially made his return for Vol. 3 official in an April 2017 post on Facebook. The lengthy post was published before the start of the press tour for Vol. 2, and Gunn indicated that he wanted to let fans of the franchise be the first to know, rather than simply announcing the news during a press junket interview.
“Yes, I’m returning to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Gunn wrote. “In the end, my love for Rocket, Groot, Gamora, Star-Lord, Yondu, Mantis, Drax, and Nebula — and some of the other forthcoming heroes — goes deeper than you guys can possibly imagine, and I feel they have more adventures to go on and things to learn about themselves and the wonderful and sometimes terrifying universe we all inhabit. And, like in both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, we will work on creating the story that goes beyond what you expect.”
While conducting press interviews for the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige fielded questions about several other Marvel ventures, including Guardians 3. Speaking with Collider, he revealed that Gunn had submitted a full script draft and that filming is set to begin in early 2019.
Given the rather shocking events of Avengers: Infinity War (which we won’t spoil here, though the statute of limitations on such spoilers is dwindling), it will be curious to see which characters factor into the Guardians finale.
Given the three-year separation between the first Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, many fans speculated that 2020 would be the most likely year for Vol. 3 to hit theaters. That speculation was eventually confirmed in January 2018 by Gunn himself, who responded to a fan’s question on Twitter with an official date — or rather, a specific year — when audiences can expect to see the third installment of the series.
Asked whether there will be a third Guardians of the Galaxy, Gunn responded, “Coming in 2020.”
In an early post regarding Vol. 3, Gunn hinted that the third installment of the series could bring an end to some key elements of the franchise while kick-starting a new chapter for the ragtag team.
“Much of what’s happened in the MCU for the past 10 or so years has been leading, in a big way, to the Avengers’ Infinity War,” wrote Gunn. “ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will happen after all that. It will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond.”
Gunn’s cryptic hint at what the future holds for the Guardians of the Galaxy could have a wide range of interpretations, but one thing seems certain: Whatever version of the team continues on after Vol. 3 will be very different from the team that was introduced in the 2014 film.
It’s widely expected that the core team from 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy will return for Vol. 3, but given how many supporting characters have been introduced across the first two films, it’s anyone’s guess as to which cast members will be brought back for another adventure.
One character that does seem to have been confirmed to return, however, is Mantis — the empathic, antenna-sporting alien in Vol. 2. In a May 2017 post on Instagram, Gunn wished Klementieff a happy birthday and looked “forward to spending the next couple of years hanging out with both her and Mantis while making Vol. 3 .”
Given the uncertain realities of comic books and the movies inspired by them, even Michael Rooker’s fin-headed mercenary Yondu might return for more action.
Updated on July 20: Added news regarding James Gunn’s termination from the film.
