This week featured the long-awaited news of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s release date. The movie will be hitting theatres in 2023, but not before the cast reunites for a Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Despite previous rumors of a spin-off movie starring Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff), there are currently no further plans for the Guardians characters aside from their upcoming appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder. In fact, Bautista recently spoke to Digital Spy about the Mantis/Drax spin-off idea and provided a disappointing update.
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“There were talks for a while about a Drax and Mantis film. It was really because it was James Gunn‘s idea. He really wanted to do a Drax and Mantis film. He laid it out to me. I thought it was such a brilliant idea, but I haven’t heard any follow-up from the studio,” Bautista shared. “I don’t think they’re very interested, or it doesn’t fit into the way they have things mapped out. But other than that, no. I mean, as far as my obligations, I’ve got Guardians 3, and that’s probably going to be the end of Drax.”
Bautista was supposed to work with Gunn again on the upcoming The Suicide Squad, but he ended up giving up his role to be in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead.
“I had The Suicide Squad where I got to work with my boy again, even though it’s a smaller role, and then I had Army of the Dead on which I get to work with Zack, I get to build a relationship with Netflix, I get a lead role in a great film – and I get paid a lot more money. I had to call James, and I told him, ‘It breaks my heart, because as a friend, I want to be there with you, but professionally, this is the smart decision for me.’ He said, ‘I completely get it. I’m proud of you that you’re even in this position. I’m proud that I had something to do with you being in this position where you have to make these hard decisions,’” Bautista told Digital Spy.
Army of the Dead is scheduled to have a limited run in theaters starting May 14th and will stream exclusively on Netflix starting on May 21st. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is expected to hit Disney+ in 2022, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled for release on May 5, 2023.
