Yahoo News James Gunn wants to break the threequel curse with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn is the first person to admit that the third film in a trilogy usually sucks. It's one thing to make a successful sequel, but a threequel is an entirely different beast — and one that Hollywood rarely gets right. Some of the most beloved franchises of all time have fallen victim to the threequel curse, resulting in a third film that's mediocre at best, if not actively terrible.
"The amount of good third episodes in a trilogy, I can count them on one hand," Gunn tells EW with a laugh. "Basically, there's the Before Sunrise series. Lord of the Rings. Maybe Spider-Man. But there's just not too many good third ones."
So, when Gunn started drafting plans for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the third entry in his candy-colored Marvel space saga, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Writing the script was a long process, far longer than it took him to write the first two Guardians or his recent Suicide Squad, but one he desperately wanted to get right. After all, Gunn says, if you consider the Guardians trilogy as three chapters of the same story, then Vol. 3 (out May 5, 2023) is the climactic final act. "This is the big one," the writer-director adds. "This is where things really happen. This is where we get to know the truth about who these characters are, and we face the biggest stakes."
Jessica Miglio/Marvel Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.'
It's been a long and complicated journey for the Guardians — and for Gunn. Marvel briefly fired the director in 2018 after several of his old, controversial tweets resurfaced, only to rehire him a year later. Guardians Vol. 3 will also be Gunn's final Marvel film, as he recently signed on to oversee DC Studios with co-chair Peter Safran. (It's worth noting that when EW spoke to him, it was before the news broke that DC wasn't moving forward with a planned Wonder Woman threequel.)
But the Guardians have always been at the top of his mind, and after Vol. 2, Gunn felt their story was still "one thousand percent" unfinished. Specifically, he felt like he owed it to one particular Guardian: tiny, gun-toting Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper.
"One of the reasons why I came back to [make] this movie was because I felt like I needed to tell Rocket's story," Gunn explains. "I would've been very sad not to complete the trilogy for many reasons, but I just feel very connected to Rocket. I feel like nobody would be able to tell his full story if it wasn't me."
With his grouchy demeanor and his encyclopedic knowledge of explosives, Rocket has always been a key member of the Guardians crew. But the foul-mouthed raccoon takes the spotlight for the first time in Vol. 3, as he's forced to reckon with his traumatic origin story.
"To me, Rocket has always been the secret protagonist of the Guardians movies," Gunn adds."From the beginning, it has been rooted in who he is as a character. I think he exemplifies a lot of the traits of all the Guardians. They've had all these traumas, and it brings them together. I just think that his is more extreme than others."
Marvel Baby Rocket in the trailer for 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'
Rocket has always been one of Gunn's personal favorite characters, and the director has said before that he loosely based the raccoon on himself. His goal for Vol. 3 was to give Rocket the satisfying story arc he deserves, exploring how the villainous High Evolutionary (Peacemaker actor Chukwudi Iwuji) transformed him from ordinary raccoon to genetically-engineered killing machine.
"He was just fine being an animal, and he was transformed into something else he didn't want to be," Gunn explains. "I think that transformation itself was extremely painful, but I also think it made him feel incredibly alienated from everyone else. In Vol. 3, we learn a lot about his past — where he came from, who he is, and what he's been through. It's been a difficult road for the little animal."
Fortunately for Rocket, he doesn't have to walk that road alone. Vol. 3 picks up after the events of Thor: Love and Thunder (and after the recent Guardians Holiday Special, which followed the crew as they kidnapped Kevin Bacon and learned about the true meaning of Christmas). Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) now leads a ragtag group of Ravagers that includes Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Kraglin (Sean Gunn). Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) is also back, and he's grown into a buff young sapling that Gunn has affectionately nicknamed "Swole Groot."
Also returning? Green-skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), although her homecoming is anything but simple. The version of Gamora that Peter knew and fell in love with died in Avengers: Infinity War, but here, she's back as an alternate timeline version of herself.
Vol. 3 will also introduce a few new allies — and a few new enemies. Will Poulter makes his debut as Adam Warlock, an all-powerful being who was specially created to destroy the Guardians. If the Guardians are an eclectic band of space adventurers, Gunn says that the golden-skinned Adam is a more traditional superhero — although "hero might be pushing it." His advanced superpowers make him a formidable foe, and his encounters with the Guardians make for "an interesting juxtaposition with where we've been so far."
Filming on Vol. 3. wrapped earlier this year, and Gunn calls the lengthy shoot "the hardest thing I've ever done." Even the music required more effort than usual: Since Peter gained access to a Zune MP3 player at the end of Vol. 2, he's no longer limited to 1970s pop hits. As a result, the Vol. 3 soundtrack will feature songs from multiple decades. "I worked twice as hard on this soundtrack as I did on both the first two soundtracks combined," Gunn admits.
Most importantly, the writer-director says he wanted Vol. 3 to be a proper send-off — for himself, for the characters, and for the cast and crew. (And if it breaks that threequel curse, even better.)
"Once I started doing the first Guardians movie, I felt drawn to it," Gunn says. "I felt called to it, if that makes any sense. So I feel very good [about Vol. 3] because I feel like I did everything that I possibly could to make this trilogy as good as it can possibly be. And I feel incredibly blessed and fortunate that I had all these people around me making it. It's the biggest blessing of my life."
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives in theaters May 5, 2023.
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