James Gunn says Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. is the best in the trilogy

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 still
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

James Gunn is confident that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will break the unwritten rule of bad third installments.

"This is the big one," Gunn told Entertainment Weekly. "This is where things really happen. This is where we get to know the truth about who these characters are, and we face the biggest stakes."

Vol 3. sees Chris Pratt's Peter Quill, who, while still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own. This mission, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them. The film also dives into Rocket's tragic origin story, with a brief clip of Baby Rocket breaking the internet.

"The amount of good third episodes in a trilogy, I can count them on one hand," Gunn added. "Basically, there's the Before Sunrise series. Lord of the Rings. Maybe Spider-Man. But there's just not too many good third ones."

"I feel very good [about Vol. 3] because I feel like I did everything that I possibly could to make this trilogy as good as it can possibly be," he continued. "And I feel incredibly blessed and fortunate that I had all these people around me making it. It's the biggest blessing of my life."

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to hit theaters on May 5, 2023.

For more, check out our list of upcoming movies in 2022 and beyond, or, skip straight to the good stuff with our list of movie release dates.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.