Sean Gunn On Whether His ‘Retirement’ From Rocket Raccoon Also Means the End of His Fan-Favorite DCU Character (Exclusive)

Sean Gunn is a more versatile performer than most actors, able to create memorable characters in both live-action and animation, no matter how big or small the role. It’s that talent that’s made Gunn part of some of the most famous (and profitable) franchise films of the 21st century, including Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and the record-setting event films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. When Guardians director James Gunn made the jump to the DC Universe franchise, Sean followed, taking on several different major character roles in the DCU.

However, in a recent interview, Sean Gunn let it be known that he has retired from playing at least one beloved character: Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon. However, that announcement left one big unanswered question on the table: is Sean Gunn also finished playing his fan-favorite mo-cap character in the DCU?

Sean Gunn On His Future Playing Weasel In the DCU

Sean Gunn has a new film opening this week: the horror-thriller-comedy, Appofeniacs. A film about sme bloody carnage caused by thoughtless online pranks, it features Gunn as a master craftsman of cosplay accessories – some of which get put to shocking use when chaos erupts. During my interview with Sean Gunn, I had to address the recent headlines about his “retirement” from playing Rocket Raccoon in the MCU. While Gunn confirmed he was indeed done with that role, he did clarify that it didn’t mean he was done playing Weasel, the motion-capture character he plays in the DCU, in addition to his live-action role as businessman Maxwell Lord.

According to Gunn, playing Weasel is still something he can very much do, as it requires different motion-capture performance than Rocket. “Yeah, it’s actually quite different because Weasel, I’m able to sort of use my whole body in a way that is not as physically taxing. Rocket was unique because with Rocket, it was necessary for me to get down in like a baseball catcher squat, essentially, and spend hours a day from that position moving and working with the other actors and things like that. And once I got north of [age] 50… it got very hard on my feet and my ankles.”

Gunn was also quick to acknowledge that deciding the future of Rocket Raccoon is not just his call “Also, it’s like – they didn’t ask anyway [laughs]. So I’m not saying that I ‘retired’ from something that… I don’t even know if they had any interest in me playing Rocket again. But I know that I’m a little too old to do that sort of physically taxing work.”

Sticking with Weasel may be a good idea for Gunn: DC Studios is in a pretty good place as we enter the Fall season. The HBO TV series Lanterns is one of the biggest hits of the year, and the Batman villain origin film Clayface is riding strong buzz into its Halloween season release date. Next year will be even bigger for the DCU, as James Gunn’s Superman sequel film Man of Tomorrow is poised to be the biggest release the franchise has had thus far when it hits theaters next summer. Weasel is also expected to return in Creature Commandos Season 2, which should already be in the works.

Catch Sean Gunn in Appofeniacs, opening in theaters on Friday, October 2nd. Do you want to see more of Sean Gunn in both the MCU and DCU? Let us know in the comments!

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