The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Just take a moment to let that sentence roll over in your mind. An entire trilogy based on the universe’s unlikeliest heroes would have been deemed ludicrous anytime before 2014 – now, it’s a reality.
Two weeks out from the launch of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and in fear that the question would overshadow the sequel’s press tour, writer-director James Gunn put all rumors to bed by announcing plans to return for Vol. 3 further down the road. The sophomore outing naturally remains top priority for now, but Gunn did offer a peek behind the curtain when outlining his trilogy to Entertainment Weekly. On paper, it’ll seemingly help “catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond,” though it seems Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be more concerned with closing out the story arc for Star-Lord and the crew before getting caught up in the overarching elements of the MCU.
Here’s what Gunn had to say about his early blueprint for the trilogy:
I think really that the three movies work together as a whole, they’re going to tell one story. This is the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and we’re going to get to know the characters even better in the same way we got to know them much better in this film than the first one.
Elsewhere, /Film has confirmed today that although Adam Warlock was initially earmarked for an appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, James Gunn vows to include the fan-favorite character in Vol. 3.
I love Adam Warlock. He’s one of my favorite characters. In all truth, I wrote an early treatment where I had Adam Warlock as a part…this is your big scoop, because I don’t think I’ve told anybody this… It was Adam Warlock. He was a big part of the screenplay and I realized it was one character too many. And I adored the character. I adored what we had done with him. I think we did something really creative and unique with Adam Warlock. But it was one character too many and I didn’t want to lose Mantis and Mantis was more organically part of the movie anyway. So I decided to save him for later.
Long before the marketing campaign kicked into high gear, the director did tease a character who was cut from Guardians 2 altogether, and now, that mystery has now been solved.
We are, at the time of writing, almost two weeks out from the theatrical release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. UK readers can look forward to catching James Gunn’s sequel a little early on April 28th, while those Stateside will get to check it out on May 5th. Are you ready?