The firing of James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 created a messy situation for the upcoming threequel, which has yet to find a replacement director seven months later. And while it was previously believed that the film would be one of the MCU’s first releases after Avengers: Endgame wraps up this current phase, it’s now generally expected that the movie is still at least a couple more years away from arriving in theaters.
One report from last October even alleged that the film won’t commence production until 2021, suggesting that the movie will finally grace our screens some time in 2022. Though this claim has yet to be confirmed, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige made it clear in an interview with Collider that Vol. 3 is not one of the studio’s top priorities at the moment, saying:
“I mean, when it was pushed back, it was pushed back. Meaning the release date, because it’s not coming out—although we’ve never announced a release date actually, but it was gonna happen sooner rather than later, initially of course. Outside of knowing that we’re gonna use [James Gunn’s] draft, [we have] been focusing on other projects.”
Indeed, while Feige reaffirmed last week that Marvel Studios won’t reveal its plans beyond 2019 until all of its films from this year have come out, reports suggest that 2020 will be the year of the Black Widow solo movie and The Eternals. After that, the schedule gets a little more mysterious, though it’s known that Black Panther and Doctor Strange both have sequels on the way.
As for where Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might fit on the calendar, there’s a chance that Marvel Studios will offer some clarification a few months from now, after Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home have all been released, but either way, it’s looking pretty likely that Gunn’s own Suicide Squad movie will be beating it to theaters when it comes out on August 6th, 2021.