Writer/director James Gunn is on the cusp of releasing his first DC movie The Suicide Squad on August 6th, but he’s also about to start filming a movie whose script predates his involvement with DC – Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Production on the highly anticipated Marvel sequel is finally poised to begin later this year, and during an interview tied to the press day for The Suicide Squad Collider’s own Steve Weintraub asked Gunn for the details on the shoot.
The filmmaker confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will start filming in Georgia in November. And the film’s title? Yep, Gunn confirmed it will officially be called Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
And while the director has spent the last two years making The Suicide Squad and the HBO Max spinoff series Peacemaker, he said the script for Guardians 3 has “basically been finished for years,” adding that he’s currently making some minor tweaks to a new draft:
“It’s basically been finished for years. I keep fiddling with different things and adding things, and figuring out permutations and stuff — I’m in the middle of doing another draft now — but it’s really small stuff in comparison to what it has been. It’s basically been finished since three years ago.”
A lot will have changed in the MCU between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, notably the death of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) in Avengers: Infinity War and the arrival of a different version of the character from earlier in the timeline in Avengers: Endgame. And while Gunn maintained that Marvel has not asked him to include anything as setup for future films since the addition of Thanos in the first Guardians movie, he did say he’s had to pay attention to what the Guardians have been up to in order to reflect developments like Gamora’s arc when it comes to picking the characters up again in Guardians of the Galaxy 3:
“The only time they ever [asked me to include something for future MCU movies] was on the first movie with Thanos, putting Thanos in there. Which they wanted me to do. But besides that they’ve never done that. I have to pay attention to things that happen, which they did talk to me about – the stuff with Gamora and things like that. I know that the characters have been through certain things, so I have to deal with that stuff. But for the most part, they never once asked me to put anything in the script for Volume 3 to set up anything in the future. Nor would I do it, frankly, it’s not really my thing.”
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a period of significant change at the moment, as Endgame closed the door on the Thanos arc and shows like WandaVision and Loki appear to be setting the table to a new, multiverse-infused era of the MCU. How Guardians of the Galaxy 3 fits in there is anyone’s guess, but one thing’s for sure: we can’t wait for Gunn to get the gang back together.
Look for more from our interview with Gunn on Collider soon. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to be released in theaters on May 23, 2023.