In this age of the modern day blockbuster, we can't get to the first sequel without discussing future movies. And that's very true when it comes to Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 2 isn't in theaters yet, and fans are already discussing Vol. 3. Earlier in the week, James Gunn, who directed the first two movies, confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is on its way. In a new interview he backtracks that statement. Guardians 3 is still on the way. But it doesn't have a release date yet, and if by some horrible cosmic tragedy Vol. 2 bombs at the box office, there's a chance that the Guardians could wind up in the dust bin of history. But that is very, very, VERY unlikely.

Clarifying his early statements, James Gunn explained that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has not been officially announced by Disney and Marvel at this time. But it is being planned. There is no doubt about that. If and when it happens, Gunn still isn't sure he wants to come back. Though, it's not for a lack of inspiration when it comes to this team of space pirates. He has plenty of ideas about where Star-Lord and his team should go next.

Explaining exactly where the Guardians franchise is, he offered a few finer details to Yahoo! Movies. In all likelihood, Guardians Vol. 3 will be one of the first movies in Marvel Phase 4. He says this.

"There are no specific plans for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But we know unless something goes horribly wrong, which is always possible, you never know, I think that Marvel would want to make another movie. [Marvel chief] Kevin Feige a year and a half ago said, 'Yeah, one of our things that we'd be thinking about will be a Guardians Vol. 3."

Gunn went onto clarify his comments about directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He loves the characters and this universe. But he's not sure he wants to devote three more years of his life to making another movie set within this world. He sounds like he wants to direct a different kind of blockbuster next.

"I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the next three years of my life. I love making big movies, that's my thing. It's not about wanting to go back and tell the story of a diseased toe for $5,000. I would like to make another big movie. So is that Vol. 3 or not? Is that the thing I'd want to do next or not? I don't know, we're talking about it. We're figuring things out. And we'll see where it goes. I'm excited about where the Guardians are gonna go, I'm excited about what they can do, and I have a thousand ideas for where the characters would go and the things they would do and what would happen next."

James Gunn is executive producing Avengers: Infinity War, which will feature the Guardians in a key role. Though, they might not get much screen time. That is to be expected, as the sequel will feature upwards of 67 main characters across two movies. He has yet to announce his next project. This weekend, he has The Belko Experiment in theaters. He wrote and produced the thriller, which finds an office full of employees forced to kill each other to survive at the request of their supervisors. Even if Gunn doesn't come back for Vol. 3, we still have his Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to look forward to in the near future.