Getting through Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might be a rather emotional experience for Marvel fans, at least it was for franchise star Karen Gillan. After playing Nebula in the previous Guardians movies, Gillan will reprise the role once again for the third (and likely final) installment of James Gunn’s Guardians series. Filming is expected to begin in November.
Ahead of the start of principal photography, Karen Gillan opened up about her experience reading the script in a Yahoo interview. The actress revealed that she read the script at the same time as co-star Pom Klementieff, who plays Mantis, and it was apparently difficult for them both. According to Gillan, by the time the two had made it to the last page, they were completely bawling. Even so, she’s happy to delve deeper into her character for one more Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
“We read it in the same room together, and then looked at each other and we were in floods of tears… so emotional. You’re learning more about existing characters and on a deeper level. I’m really excited at exploring Nebula, post-Thanos.”
Gillan obviously couldn’t specify exactly what it was in the script that had her shedding some tears, but fans might want to bring some kleenex when they see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023. For his part, James Gunn has teased that at least one major character will die in the sequel, and fans are worrying over which character(s) that might be. Gunn has also spoken about how the movie is an “emotional” experience.
“For Guardians 3, the script has basically been written for a long time,” Gunn told EW, teasing that it was just as emotional for him to write it as it was for Gillan to read it. “I’ve been playing with it in little ways over the years, but it’s basically stayed the same since three years ago. It’s pretty heavy actually. It’s a heavier story, so it’s an emotional process to go through.”
Fortunately, Gunn is going to make sure the fans have some fun with the characters before then. They’ll all be appearing in the canonical holiday special, dubbed The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, before their third movie is released. Of that project, Gunn said, “That’s a blast. I wrote that a couple of months ago, and I’m really, really happy with it. I’m going to shoot that at the same time as Guardians 3. So we’re using some of the same sets. I think it’s going to be a good holiday special.”
As it stands now, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 5, 2023. Written and directed by Gunn, the sequel stars Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Nebula, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, and Vin Diesel as Groot. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will first hit Disney+ in 2022, presumably just in time for the holiday season. Meanwhile, the Guardians cast can be seen in the upcoming Marvel sequel Thor: Love and Thunder on May 6, 2022. This news comes to us from Yahoo.