Later this year, a long-running chapter of James Gunn’s career is coming to an end. Nearly a decade ago, the Slither and Super director signed on to direct Guardians of the Galaxy, and thanks to the work from him and his team, the Marvel Cinematic Universe not only scored another critical and commercial win, but the Guardians were launched to global popularity after years of obscurity in the comics. Cut to next May, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will wrap up Gunn’s time in the MCU, but the filmmaker has already addressed whether he might reunite with the Guardians actors over at DC.
Since early November, James Gunn has been co-running DC Studios with producer Peter Safran. In other words, Gunn is calling the shots on what DC film, television and animation projects go forward, so he obviously has a say in which actors will be brought aboard for such projects. On that note, here’s what Gunn said about whether he envisions working with the main actors from his Marvel film series following the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3:
This cast are like my family. I cannot tell you how close I am to Chris Pratt and Pom [Klementieff] and Dave [Bautista] and Zoe [Saldaña] and Karen [Gillan]. But I also know I will work again with all those people individually again. Probably at my other job.
Earlier in his interview with Empire, James Gunn described putting the finishing touches on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as his “day job,” while the early stages of figuring out what will make up the DC Studios slate in the coming years is his “a very healthy part-time job that’s at least another 40 to 60 hours a week.” But even this early into planning, Gunn is confident that he’ll find a way to loop people like Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldaña and Karen Gillan into what he’s putting together at DC Studios.
Granted, the chances of them all coming back together for the same project are slim, but at least this would give these actors the opportunity to leave their stamps on the DC landscape after their time at Marvel. In Dave Bautista’s case, maybe this could finally be his opportunity to be cast as Bane, a villain he’s been wanting to play for years. Whether or not that specific casting happens or not, considering how well Gunn knows each of these actors’ respective talents, you can be sure he’d find the right kind of role for each of them, whether he’s directly making the movies in question or simply supervising them.
Although there are four upcoming DC movies to look forward to in 2024, outside of Joker 2 in late 2024 and what Matt Reeves is working on for his The Batman universe, the future of DC films is shrouded in uncertainty. Weeks after Gunn started working at DC Studios, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 was scrapped and Henry Cavill announced he wouldn’t return as Superman after all following his Black Adam cameo. Gunn has said that we’ll get a partial DC slate announcement later in January, but the only thing that’s confirmed for right now is the Superman reboot Gunn is writing that might be inspired by All-Star Superman. Perhaps that could be one of projects for which Gunn brings aboard one of the Guardians of the Galaxy actors.
As always, stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all the latest news on the DC movies front. If you’d like to revisit past DC film and TV offerings, plenty of those are available to stream with an HBO Max subscription. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set for a May 5 release in the upcoming Marvel movies slate.
