James Gunn doesn’t actually know if he’ll be working on the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise anymore at this point. The filmmaker is now co-CEO of DC Studios and is in the middle of launching the new DC Universe continuity, but his MCU characters, The Guardians of the Galaxy are still in action. In an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Thursday, Gunn revealed some of the possible Guardians projects he had discussed while he was still at Marvel.
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Gunn said “there’s so many” Guardians ideas that he and his colleagues at Marvel wanted to explore but didn’t get around to. He went on: “Yeah, the Ravagers show, I thought could be a fun thing. Legendary Star-Lord really, frankly, we had a whole idea for that. And then Rocket & Groot… To be honest, Rocket & Groot is what Guardians 3 was. So, I wanted to do Rocket & Groot first, and then I was talked into doing Guardians 3 instead of Rocket & Groot. I knew I needed to tell Rocket’s story.”
Whatever comes next, Gunn doesn’t know whether he’ll be involved or not. When asked if he still has any contractual obligations to the Guardians, he said: “I don’t know the exact legal answer. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m excited for them to go do whatever they want with Guardians, to take those characters and see more stories with them.”
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If he’s not involved, Gunn is content to sit back and watch. He said: “Chris [Pratt] has my blessing, they all have my blessing. Chris keeps saying, ‘Is this okay?’ and I’m like dude, whatever, I’m totally okay with whatever you do. You go do it. I would love to see him be Star-Lord again.”
What’s Next for the Guardians of the Galaxy
There are no Guardians movies or TV shows on Marvel’s slate right now, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be left out. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 premiered just last year as a part of the MCU’s Phase Five, which means they do have a place in the Multiverse Saga. That means they could still show up for crossovers in any of the upcoming movies – especially the two Avengers titles on the schedule. On top of that, Marvel has two release dates blocked out for unannounced secret projects – one in February of 2026 and one in November of 2026.
Of course, if the Guardians do return, the lineup will look a bit different. Karen Gillan has stated her hope to continue playing Nebula in the MCU, and Pratt has said he would reprise his role as Peter Quill if the script was great, but Zoe Saldaña told Total Film Magazine that Vol. 3 was her last time playing Gamora. Meanwhile, the movie introduced many new characters and officially named some of them part of the Guardians team.
All three Guardians of the Galaxy movies are streaming now on Disney+. The next MCU movie will be Captain America: Brave New World, premiering on February 14, 2025.
