The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is going to be a huge moment in James Gunn’s career for a number of reasons. Not only is it poised to mark his final involvement with the band of intergalactic misfits, who in the filmmaker’s hands became some of the most popular characters in the entire comic book franchise, but it could also be the first time he’s directed a movie without Michael Rooker.
Rooker was cast as the wonderfully-named Grant Grant in Gunn’s feature directorial debut Slither, and since then the two have remained firm friends. The former Walking Dead alum has gone on to lend support in blackly comic superhero story Super, both installments in the Guardians series and The Suicide Squad, while he also showed up in The Belko Experiment and Brightburn, both of which were produced by Gunn.
Of course, Yondu is dead anyway having made the ultimate sacrifice to save his surrogate son Peter Quill in Vol. 2, with the creative team managing the almost impossible by having audiences wiping away tears in theaters around the world over the fate of a blue alien with a Southern accent, but the genre is well known for laughing in the face of death’s permanence. However, Gunn has now been forced to hop onto social media for what feels like the umpteenth time to confirm that Yondu won’t be part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as you can see below.
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1372652765428686851?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1372652765428686851%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadline.com%2F2021%2F03%2Fguardians-of-the-galaxy-3-will-be-yondu-free-says-writer-director-james-gunn-1234717663%2F
Obviously, that doesn’t rule Rooker out of the cast completely, and there are any number of fantastical extraterrestrials he could cameo as, but having bowed out in the most graceful style possible the last time out, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at least won’t be falling into the resurrection trap.