There was once a time where filmmaker James Gunn was forced to depart from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, meaning another director would have needed to come in and finish the Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy he launched. Eventually Disney eventually hired Gunn back onto Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, best because Gunn boarded The Suicide Squad in that interim period, we’re having to wait a lot longer for the threequel to arrive. Fortunately, just because Gunn’s been so focused on working within the DC realm doesn’t mean he’s let Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 fall by the wayside.
Quite the opposite, in fact, as James Gunn recently revealed that there have been some behind-the-scenes developments on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Here’s how he responded to a fan inquiring about the project’s progress, specifically if Gunn tackling the Peacemaker TV series was taking priority:
There you have it. While James Gunn is still putting The Suicide Squad together and working on the HBO Max spinoff series centered on John Cena’s Peacemaker, he’s also found time to push Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 a little closer to becoming a reality. The script is finished and nearly everyone who will be overseeing aspects of the production has been brought on board. Yes, there’s still a long ways to go before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is ready to start filming, but at least a few pieces of the proverbial puzzle have been put into place.
It is worth noting that the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 script has been in the works for years. In September 2019, James Gunn said that it took him a year to write the whole thing, and back in May, he stated that the script was “long past the first draft stage.” And for those wondering, even with Gunn having been away from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for approximately half a year, the script from after the exit is quite close to how it was before his exit. As Gunn put it on Twitter:
There was a point where Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was reportedly aiming to come out in 2020, thus making one of the first (if not the first) Phase 4 release, but James Gunn being unceremoniously fired threw a wrench in the works. Even after he was rehired onto the project, he’d already signed onto The Suicide Squad shortly before, hence why we’re having to wait much longer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to arrive. Of course, even if the threequel had stayed on course for a 2020 release, the current pandemic still would have forced Marvel Studios to delay it, just like what happened with Black Widow, Eternals and more.
With James Gunn back on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he’s one of the first filmmakers who gets to helm an MCU trilogy from start to finish. Peyton Reed has also joined that club since he’s returning to direct Ant-Man 3. There’s no official word yet on which of these movies will come out first, although since Ant-Man 3 has already begun casting, I suspect that will win this particular race.
When we left off with the Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of Avengers: Endgame, they were joined by Thor and Peter Quill intended to search for the time-displaced Gamora. With Thor: Love and Thunder on track for a 2022 release, it remains to be seen if Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder will be involved with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, although Groot voice actor Vin Diesel has said that some, if not all of the Guardians will pop up in the fourth Thor movie.
Beyond that, no specific plot details for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have been disclosed to the public yet. That said, James Gunn did say that there are big things in store for both Rocket Raccoon and Kraglin in the threequel. The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 script has also been called a real tear-jerker, while Nebula actress Karen Gillan described it as being “amazing.”
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s progress. Keep track of the other MCU movies on the way with our comprehensive guide.
