Chris Pratt Hints That Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 May Take Place In The Past

James Gunn is not one to rest on his laurels.

Four years ago, soon after the landmark release of Guardians of the Galaxy, the writer-director was already drawing up ideas for Vol. 2. And the filmmaker adhered to a similarly quick turnaround once his cosmic sequel launched into theaters last summer.

Fast forward to now, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is deep into pre-production, with James Gunn expected to yell “action!” for the first time early next year. It’s also a “very, very different” beast when compared to previous Guardians movies, and we know the director plans to bring the curtain down on his zany trilogy come 2020.

And while he’s previously confirmed that Vol. 3 takes place after Avengers 4, comments made by Chris Pratt strongly hint that the forthcoming threequel may be rooted in the past, after all.

MTV (h/t ComicBook.com) has the scoop, though we should stress that Pratt is clearly making these comments in jest, given the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star name-drops the Blue Man Group as the new Guardians.

They’ve cast the Blue Man Group. Yeah, it’s going to be all Blue Man Group. I’m not supposed to say anything, oh no now everyone’s going to be all mad! It’s the Blue Man Group. It’s an Andy Griffith hologram, yeah, they’re the new Guardians. It’s gonna be amazing. You don’t know. It might take place in the past. It might be a prequel.

Yeah, we’re not buying it. Aside from possible flashbacks, we can’t imagine Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will spend much time dabbling with the MCU’s past. We’ll find out one way or another though when the Marvel threequel drops in May of 2020.