Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 star Chris Pratt talked about how the death of Gamora (Zoë Saldaña) in Avengers: Infinity War will affect his character Star-Lord in the threequel. Speaking with Screen Rant about the highly-anticipated third chapter in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Pratt also revealed that Star-Lord grief will leave the cosmic team of misfits defenseless against enemies' attacks.
As Collider's detailed description of the first footage from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 released during 2022 SDCC tells us, Gamora will be back for the prequel in a new position. The green warrior died during the events of Infinity War, but a different variant of the character jumped into Earth-616 on Avengers: Endgame. This variant has no memories of the Guardians and decides to roam the universe alone. Besides not being part of the Guardians anymore, this Gamora will become the leader of the Ravagers for the threequel.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Star-Lord and the rest of the crew are still mourning their dead teammate. The situation is more sensitive in Star-Lord's case because Gamora was his first great love. As Pratt explains it:
“Gamora is the love of Star-Lord's life; the romantic love of his life. He's dealt with the loss of Yondu, and of course of his mother. And now he's dealing with the loss of Gamora, the one person he found who truly knew him and loved him. She doesn't know who he is. That's really had a profound impact on him personally, and his ability to be a leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. It opens the Guardians up to [attack] and makes them vulnerable. That's where you catch him. He's dealing with that, for sure.”
Gamora’s multiversal tragedy is not the only sad story in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. As we revealed from the 2022 SDCC, the sequel will also feature a baby version Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), promising to tell the origin story of the animal-machine hybrid. In the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, we learn that Rocket was a victim of cruel experiments. With Chukwudi Iwuji playing the High Evolutionary in the upcoming movie, everything points to some tearjerker moments, as in the comic books, the High Evolutionary is a villain who kidnaps, dissects, and experiments on every species while trying to create the perfect being.
Besides Iwuji, the threequel also added Will Poulter as Adam Warlock, a supposedly perfect being created by the Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s Maria Bakalova also joins the movie as the voice of Cosmo the space dog. Crossing from DC to Marvel, we also have Daniela Melchior, who previously worked with Gunn in The Suicide Squad. Rounding up the newcomer cast is Superstore’s Nico Santos in an undisclosed role. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 also stars Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters in May 2023. To learn more about the threequel, check our interview with Gunn below: