James Gunn, the director, has been quite busy since leaving Marvel Studios to work for DC. Gunn still provided an explanation via Entertainment Weekly of why he felt compelled to return and attempt the third instalment of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, noting among other things the movie’s diminutive and armed character.
In a lengthy interview with EW, the director addressed the phenomenon of lackluster third films in trilogies but assured fans that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would shift away from the usual third film formula. “The amount of good third episodes in a trilogy, I can count them on one hand,” he said, adding that there are simply not enough excellent third ones. Serving as his final film at Marvel Studios, Gunn shared that the third Guardians film will showcase each character’s story. Even while he has a lot to do with his latest project in the DC Universe, the Guardians of the Galaxy have always been in the back of his mind, and he believes that the entire Guardians’ character arc is still unfinished, especially the one to whom he has the strongest connection: the brooding and outwardly stubborn Rocket.
Explaining his return, the director said: “One of the reasons why I came back to [make] this movie was because I felt like I needed to tell Rocket’s story,” he told EW, explaining that there are many reasons why it could be sad for him to leave the trilogy unfinished, but his connection with the anthropomorphic raccoon has been the primary one, to which he said: “To me, Rocket has always been the secret protagonist of the Guardians movies. 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.”
