Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been slow going but is back on track. We'll probably learn more after the release of Avengers: Endgame.
After the events of the upcoming Avengers: Endgame, which will still feature members of the Guardians of the Galaxy team, despite the fate of several members in Avengers: Infinity War, fans are starting to wonder when (or even if,) they might be able to see Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Here's everything we know so far...which, admittedly, isn't a lot.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Director
Two weeks before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 even hit theaters, James Gunn had already confirmed that he would be back to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy 3. It's tough to imagine anyone other than Gunn directing Guardians of the Galaxy 3, as he has clearly invested a lot of love and his unique taste into crafting this world, but he was fired in 2018 after a series of unfunny joke tweets were brought to the surface. As Gunn's stamp as writer and director was perhaps more prominent than any other in the MCU, he's not someone who can be easily or quickly replaced.
Disney apparently thought the same, and Gunn was reinstated for the job. The only catch? He can't start work on this until after he completes filming DC's The Suicide Squad, so it's going to be a while. Which brings us to...
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Release Date
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 still isn't officially on Marvel's release calendar. Despite initial plans to get it quickly into production for a potential 2020 release date, that all went out the window with Gunn's firing, and since he has another movie to film first that easily rules out the two 2020 dates on that calendar, and at this point, the 2021 dates look equally unlikely. It seems that the earliest we're likely to see Guardians of the Galaxy 3 would be 2022, and Marvel has Feb. 18, May 6, and July 29 currently reserved there. Maybe one of those will end up being the date, but something tells us we won't hear anything until SDCC this year.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Cast
While Avengers: Infinity War hit fans of the Guardians team with the subtlety of a big rig truck packed with C4, it's safe to say (avoiding outrage-fueled “spoiler” accusations) that said film's heartbreaking ending will not be the last word on the state of the MCU. Indeed, Star-Lord himself, Chris Pratt, who just took to Instagram to convey birthday wishes to Mantis co-star, Pom Klementieff, decided to drop a quick update on the status of Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Lest anyone think that its prospects disintegrated with a single wave of Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet, Pratt confirms that the threequel is shooting (with him).
While the timing of when this movie will end up filming is still very much up in the air, at least we all know that the Guardians team will be somehow reunited during Avengers: Endgame.
One tantalizing possibility is the very public chat that James Gunn and Mark Hamill had on Twitter about the possibility of an appearance. We have more details on that here. Will it happen? Who knows?
Let's not forget about Sylvester Stallone's cool squad that was introduced at the end of Vol. 2, so they'll probably return at some point.
Gunn has also teased that we'll get to meet more new characters, perhaps the Richard Rider version of Nova. And, of course, we know that Adam Warlock will somehow figure into the story, too.
We speculated about a ton of other cosmic characters we'd like to see make appearances right here.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Story
"Much of what’s happened in the MCU for the past ten or so years has been leading, in a big way, to the Avengers: Infinity War," Gunn said about the possible shape of the story via his Facebook page in 2017. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will happen after all that. It will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond. I will be working side-by-side with Kevin Feige and the gang to help design where these stories go, and make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special and authentic and magical as what we have created so far."
We'll keep updating this article with official information as it becomes available.