James Gunn Says Thor: Love and Thunder Didn't Change Guardians Vol. 3 "At All"
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is getting the band back together — except for Thor (Chris Hemsworth). After the space viking left Earth with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his cosmic crew of misfits to end Avengers: Endgame, the short-lived "Asgardians of the Galaxy" went their separate ways to track Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) in Thor: Love and Thunder. Set after the events of the latest Avengers movie and director Taika Waititi's Thor fourquel, as well as Disney+'s The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Vol. 3 will effectively pick up where Endgame left off: with the team searching for Gamora (Zoe Saldana).
"No, I wrote the script without ever thinking they were ever going to be with Thor," Gunn told ScreenRant when asked if the team has changed since Thor: Love and Thunder. "It hasn't affected them at all (laughs)."
Earlier this month, Gunn disputed a claim that Thor was to be a "sidekick" in Vol. 3 when he tweeted that the God of Thunder "was never going to be" in the final installment of his trilogy. In an interview with Insider, Waititi revealed the Guardians didn't have a bigger role in Love and Thunder because the team will return in their own movie next May.
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Gunn has confirmed that Vol. 3 will be the last time moviegoers see this team of Guardians, which includes Star-Lord, Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper).
"I think it's really been about telling one story between the three films with a couple of sideways adventures," Gunn said during Vol. 3's portion of Marvel's San Diego Comic-Con panel. "But I think it really is about the one story. This is the final arc that we began at the very beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy, with Peter Quill, with Rocket, seeing where Nebula goes, and even Kraglin, who started out as saying one or two lines in the first movie and is now a main Guardian of the Galaxy."
Starring Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha, Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the Spacedog, Will Poulter as Adam Warlock, Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, Vin Diesel as Groot, and Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters on May 5, 2023.
