‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Pre-Production Starts Very Soon

Pre-production on Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 starts "very, very soon," says producer Kevin Feige.

Writer-director James Gunn "has delivered a draft and we begin official pre-production on that very, very soon," Feige told Collider, adding Vol. 3 will be "shooting early next year."

"Captain Marvel finishes in about two weeks, Spider-Man [Far From Home] starts in about two weeks, and then Guardians 3 will start early next year," Feige said.

Despite the apparent deaths of all of the Guardians of the Galaxy at the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War save for Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt and Drax actor Dave Bautista have already confirmed their returns.

Guardians leading man Chris Pratt told MTV earlier this month he'll reprise his role as Star-Lord in Vol. 3 when the project starts filming in January, and Bautista told Collider he'll return in both Avengers 4 and Vol. 3.

"I got a lot of texts saying, 'I can't believe you're dead, your character is dead,'" Bautista said. "They were really like heartbroken and I was like, 'I'm gonna be in [Avengers 4]. I'm gonna be in Guardians 3.' I don't know how they're bringing me back, yeah, but somehow I'm going to make it because, as far as I know, I am going to be in Guardians 3, so I have to be back."

Despite Pratt teasing Vol. 3 could "take place in the past" or be a prequel — its events occurring before Infinity War — Gunn is already on the record confirming the movie takes place after the two-part Avengers movies.

"It's very, very, very different," Gunn teased of Vol. 3. "Very different, but I won't say how! You'll have to wait to see the movie, it's a long time away."

The trilogy closer will be the last to feature this specific iteration of the Guardians — Pratt's Star-Lord, Bautista's Drax, Cooper's Rocket, Pom Klementieff's Mantis, Vin Diesel's Groot, and Zoe Saldana's Gamora — and could mark Gunn's own end with Marvel Studios.

"We know that Guardians Vol. 3 is the end of this group of Guardians. So, that's that," Gunn said on Facebook Live.

"I don't know what I'm going to do if I'm going to stick around at Marvel, if I'm going to do something else, I don't know where I'm going to go. I haven't decided yet."

Marvel Studios has not yet announced a release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but the film will likely release May 1, 2020 — one of three 2020 dates staked out by Disney-Marvel that year.