In wake of the James Gunn controversy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 being put on hold, there’s a lot of tension in air around the subject of the planned sci-fi sequel. Actor Dave Bautista in particular has been going rogue in recent months, bad-mouthing Disney and threatening to quit the franchise if the fired filmmaker isn’t reinstated.
Co-star Michael Rooker, meanwhile, has made his stance on the matter quite clear, deleting his Twitter account in protest and signing his name to the cast’s open letter in a sign of solidarity with Gunn. Nonetheless, should the blue-skinned Yondu Udonta be invited to return to the franchise, Rooker would still be open to the possibility.
“It depends on how much I got paid,” the actor said with a laugh during a Q&A session at Salt Lake City’s FanX convention this weekend. “Of course I would totally love to do it again, it would be awesome.”
Of course, this question is a largely hypothetical one after Yondu’s noble self-sacrifice in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In Rooker’s own words, “They made me turn into a sparkly arrow that shot out into space,” though Yondu certainly wouldn’t be the first character in the MCU to find a way to cheat death.
Ironically, Rooker’s chances of returning to the franchise seemed slim back when Gunn was in charge, with the director stating earlier this year that Star-Lord’s surrogate father “will never be brought back to life as long as I’m around. His passing needs to mean something.”
Still, with Gunn out of the picture, there isn’t a character from this ongoing space saga whose future beyond next year’s Avengers 4 isn’t plagued with uncertainty. Until Disney settles on a new director for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, this series remains in a state of limbo.