‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’ Writer-Director James Gunn Says Sequel Will be Looking More Deeply Into The Characters Who, Unlike the Avengers, ‘Have Major, Major issues’

Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the sequel to last year's box office hit Guardians of the Galaxy and the 15th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is scheduled to be seen in cinemas beginning May 5, 2017. Writer and director James Gunn will back, as will the original Guardians cast comprised of Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Vin Diesel as Groot, and Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon. Also confirmed returning are Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta and Karen Gillian as Nebula. As with the original Kevin Feige will likewise produce the sequel.

According to Gunn, there will be new additions to the cast as well. Back in August, he said that "at least one more Guardian from the comics" should appear in the sequel. In the Marvel comic books, the other superheroes who have at one time or another become members of the Guardians include Adam Warlock, Quasar, Mantis Major Victory, Bug, Jack Flag, Cosmo the Spacedog, and Drax's daughter Moondragon. Gunn also hinted that Peter's real father may make an appearance, revealing further that unlike in the comics, in his version, the Star Lord's father would not be J'son of Spartax. As for Thanos (Josh Brolin), he said, "He will show up [in the sequel] if he helps our story and he will not show up at all, if not. Thanos is not the most important thing in Guardians 2, that's for damn sure. There's the Guardians themselves and other threats the Guardians are going to be facing that are not Thanos."

Even though he is still at the drafting stage of the script for Guardians of the Galaxy 2, one thing Gunn knows is that he won't be re-hashing elements he already used in the first movie. Via Movie Cricket, the writer-director said: "I think the main thing with moving on is that we can't just repeat ourselves. We can't just say 'okay let's start with something sad and shift into something really happy with some music, and let's have the Awesome Mix work in the same way, but with songs from the 80s as opposed to songs from the 70s'... that doesn't interest me. [Instead,] for me, the shift is about getting to know the characters on a deeper level, knowing them more intimately, and uncovering facets of the characters that make them more real to us. Because at the center of it, I think what works about Guardians is that people like the characters. [Hence, in the sequel we will be] looking more deeply into the characters themselves and who they are and what they think and what their flaws are and what their strengths are, you know. They're a much more flawed group than The Avengers. They have major, major issues."