James Gunn had always maintained the position that there were no intentions on his part to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4, with 2023’s third installment marking the end of the line for his time at the helm of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s band of cosmic misfits, and possibly even the squad he put together if Dave Bautista’s recent comments are any indication.
However, the filmmaker has now cast doubt on his own aspersions in a social media interaction with a fan, giving it the old ‘never say never’ line despite once again reiterating that Vol. 3 draws the storyline he kicked off with the opening chapter back in 2014 to a close, as you can see below.
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1390858962778664960
Of course, ‘never say never’ is just one of things that comes out of the mouths of many industry types that’s much easier and invites less further questioning than giving a definitive yes or no answer. We’ve heard it from Robert Downey Jr. in regards to Iron Man, Daisy Ridley talking about Star Wars, Kevin Feige on rebooting the canceled Netflix shows into the MCU and also Ron Perlman with Hellboy 3, even though most folks are of the belief that that big red ship sailed a long time ago.
Therefore, it’s probably not the best idea to hedge your bets on James Gunn returning to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4 just yet, especially when this summer’s release of The Suicide Squad means that by the time Vol. 3 arrives in two summers from now, he’ll have spent the best part of a decade working exclusively in the realm of irreverent ensemble films based on lesser-known comic books, so it might be time to shake things up.