Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 is set to have a "pretty heavy" story, according to writer/director James Gunn.

Now in pre-production on his MCU threequel – reuniting Star-Lord, Drax, Rocket, Groot and possibly the alternate version of Gamora – Gunn recently shared some insights with Entertainment Weekly.

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Marvel Studios

Related: Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn says Marvel firing left him feeling like "everything was gone"

"I'm still shooting [The Suicide Squad TV spin-off series] Peacemaker, but I'm starting to work on Guardians 3," he said in an interview conducted last month.

"For Guardians 3, the script has basically been written for a long time. 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."

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Marvel Studios

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Elsewhere, the filmmaker also found time to tease next year's Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which will premiere on Disney+.

"That's a blast," he shared. "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."

Gunn's next movie is DC's The Suicide Squad, and early reactions suggest it's a lot of violent fun.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol 1 and vol 2 are available now, with the third movie scheduled for release on May 5, 2023.


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Reporter, Digital Spy 

Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment

In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.