‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Star Michael Rooker Open to Returning as Yondu

Michael Rooker, who played Yondu, surrogate father of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, said he would “totally” reprise the role.

“It depends on how much I got paid,” Rooker 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.”

The only caveat, Rooker said, is “they did bad things to me,” referring to Yondu’s heroic and sacrificial death in the icy cold depths of space. “They made me turn into a sparkly arrow that shot out into space.”

Rooker admitted the touching scene between an uncharacteristically-loving Yondu and a heartbroken Star-Lord left him emotional. “My mortgage wept,” he joked.

Series writer-director James Gunn, then set to craft the series’ third installment, said earlier this year Yondu “will never be brought back to life as long as I’m around. His passing needs to mean something.”

Rooker previously expressed an interest in returning during a 2017 convention appearance, where he said he doesn’t understand “why people think dying is, like, gone.”

“No, I’m just saying. I’m not giving any hints right now,” Rooker said. “I’m just saying that Yondu has moved on.” The star added Yondu’s essence lived on in his whistle-controlled Yaka Arrow, since passed down to Ravager loyalist Kraglin (Sean Gunn).

“There’s this arrow and it flew off into space. It’s going somewhere right? I mean, right? Don’t you think?” Rooker said. “If it’s going it could, maybe, perhaps one day come back. Hint! That’s a hint, Marvel!”

Gunn, a longtime friend and collaborator of Rooker’s, has since been famously fired as director on the upcoming Marvel Studios blockbuster. The filmmaker was swiftly fired by Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn after years-old tweets penned by Gunn resurfaced on Twitter involving such content matter as rape, pedophilia, and other abuses.

Rooker was among the Guardians of the Galaxy cast members who signed a joint statement urging Disney to reconsider and reinstate Gunn as director on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is now on the hunt for a new director and on-hold indefinitely, according to Drax star Dave Bautista.

Rooker further supported Gunn by wholly deleting his Twitter account just days after the firing.

“This account will be inactive after today. We’re very tired & upset over the ongoing BULLSH-T… neither I nor my rep will use Twitter again. Twitter sucks and I want nothing to do with it,” read a closing tweet from Rooker. Before the account was deleted entirely, the bio said Rooker “has left Twitter and will not return.”