Over the last several years, James Gunn has been knee-deep working in the DC Extended Universe, first by writing and directing The Suicide Squad, and currently by filming the spinoff HBO Max series Peacemaker. But Gunn hasn’t ditched his original comic book franchise; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has slowly been coming together and is expected to begin production later this year. In fact, Gunn’s latest update on the threequel should excite the folks excited for Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Nebula and Mantis to lead another adventure.
The past several days have quite eventful on the MCU front, with a new Black Widow trailer advertising the movie’s forthcoming release in both theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access this summer, followed by a new Loki trailer that’s packed with even more time travel tomfoolery. These new previews promoted a fan asking James Gunn on Twitter if there was any updates he could provide about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, to which the filmmaker responded:
Just thinking about all the new aliens and worlds that we’ll see in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is enough to hype up its eventual release, but just for good measure, James Gunn threw in those final words to boost excitement levels, including his own. With Vol. 3 marking the conclusion to the story centered on the current Guardians lineup, it’s no surprise that Gunn and his team are looking to make this the biggest entry of this MCU film series yet. Alas, we’ll have to keep playing the waiting game to actually see any of this new material.
Had things gone according to the original plan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would have been one of the MCU’s Phase Four releases, but due to Disney cutting ties with James Gunn in summer 2018, development on the threequel stalled. The Mouse House eventually rehired Gunn, but by that point, he’d already signed onto The Suicide Squad, making that his new priority. Still, now that he’s back holding the Vol. 3 helming reins, Gunn is now one of only two MCU directors who oversee a trilogy in this franchise from start to finish, the other being Peyton Reed on the Ant-Man film series.
Of course, it’s not like we haven’t spent any time with the Guardians of the Galaxy since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 came out in 2017. They were major players in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, with Rocket Raccoon and Nebula having particularly important roles in the latter movie since they were among the half of the universe to survive Thanos’ snap. When we last left off with the Guardians, they were departing Earth with Thor in tow, and Star-Lord was intent on finding the time-displaced Gamora.
No specific plot details for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have been revealed yet, although James Gunn promised last year that big things were in store for Rocket Raccoon. Guardians fans can also take comfort knowing that Vol. 3 won’t be the only place these characters will be popping up in the coming years. The Guardians, as well as Sean Gunn’s Kraglin, will next appear in Thor: Love and Thunder, and Gunn is also working on the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special for Disney+.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is expected to premiere in theaters sometime in 2023, and once an official release date is revealed, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, browse through our upcoming Marvel movies guide to learn what else this franchise is priming for the big screen.
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