James Gunn is coming to the end of his time as director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, and he recently revealed about the final movie has been one of the most complex and hardest to film. For fans of the current lineup of the Guardians, which includes Chris Pratt’s Star Lord, Dave Bautista’s Drax, Karen Gillian’s Nebula and Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and third Guardians movie will be the last time this particular group will come together on screen, but we will likely see a new iteration of them in the future.
The Guardians of the Galaxy have mostly sat outside the main MCU story, although their two previous movies have had the honor of introducing and Infinity Stone and the first celestial of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time around, we can probably expect Gunn to continue that with the main storyline being almost completely stand-alone and other Easter eggs simply being there to tie the sub-franchise to the overarching story.
Having worked on both new additions to the Guardians series together, Gunn was recently asked on Twitter which of his new Guardians projects has been his favorite and the director had a number of conflicting feelings about the whole thing. He replied:
“The Holiday Special was a pure joy. Vol 3 was very difficult for a billion reasons, beginning with its size and complexity. It might be my favorite movie but it probably wasn’t my favorite shooting experience, other than the love I have for the whole team.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 Will Be An Emotional Send Off
While the previous solo Guardians movies have mostly been jolly adventures, this time around there is plenty to suggest that there is going to be a more elaborate and involving story and there is certainly a lot to be packed into the film. While it is not known if the story will link into the Multiverse Saga, there are plenty of other things to be dealt with including the Infinity War/Endgame storyline that saw Gamora die but come back as a previous version of herself, and the introduction of Adam Warlock.
Gunn, as well as various cast members have also previously discussed how this time around it has been a very emotional. Zoe Saldana praised the writing of Gunn and the direction of the movie in a previous interview. She said:
“It’s bittersweet; after all those years of complaining about that green make-up, I find myself already nostalgic about it. There’s a lot of melancholy here, but also pride that we’ve achieved something great. James Gunn was written a beautiful story, that making us emotional even as we shoot it. Omicron plays a doozy on us every other day, but we’re getting by and we’re happy.”
Before that though, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will be arriving on Disney+ this December, and will be a bit more of a happy festive affair before things get serious, which is scheduled for release in theaters on May 5, 2023.