Guardians Of The Galaxy Sequel Announced Before Second Film's Release

Though Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 hasn't even come out yet, we've already learned that it's going to become a trilogy. The trailer wasn't to our liking, but there's no reason the sequel shouldn't be just as glorious (and destructive) as the original.

It's still two weeks away. We don't know whether it will fly or flop. But apparently Marvel does, because they're bringing back the gang for a third film. That includes director James Gunn, who posted first a tweet then a lengthy Facebook post explaining that he's returning.

Gunn emphasized that he was staying with the series because of love for the universe.

"There is a history in Hollywood of haphazard endings to trilogies, and I didn’t want to become a part of that dishonorable tradition of pretending the third one doesn’t exist," he wrote on Facebook. "I couldn’t do it for the money, and I couldn’t do it because it was what other people wanted me to do. I needed to do it because it was what I needed to do. I have never made choices in my career based on anything other than passion and love for the stories and characters, and I didn’t want to start now."

He also says that he wants to see the Guardians through Marvel's planned Infinity War films, and beyond.

"Much of what’s happened in the [Marvel Comics Universe] for the past ten or so years has been leading, in a big way, to the Avengers’ Infinity War," Gunn writes. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will happen after all that. It will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond. I will be working side-by-side with Kevin Feige and the gang to help design where these stories go, and make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special and authentic and magical as what we have created so far."

Interesting to hear that the third film will be the gang's last. It's not often that a director of a blockbuster franchise gets to express his entire vision for the characters. Gunn, at least, deserves the shot.

Read his post in full, embedded below.