Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Â will conclude the stories of Star-Lord and the team. James Gunn has had a specific ending in mind for years, purposefully building elements of each character’s arc into their appearance across the MCU. The script has been complete for some time and we know, for example, that it’ll deal with Rocket’s traumatizing past and Star-Lord and (alt-timeline) Gamora’s relationship. But there’s one other character whose role will definitely be expanded: Kraglin.
The scruffy space merc is played by Gunn’s brother Sean, who also provides the mo-cap performance for Rocket. The Ravager’s first mate had an increased role in the sequel compared to his brief part in the first film, participated in the titanic final battle in Avengers: Endgame (though ended up on the cutting room floor) and looks set to be even more developed in Vol. 3. We got about as straightforward a confirmation of this as it’s possible to get recently, with Gunn saying “yeah” in response to a fan asking him if we’d see more Kraglin.
Of course, a bigger role for him makes sense considering how the second movie ended. Following Yondu’s death, Kraglin seemed to become an honorary Guardian and was set to follow in his footsteps. In one of the post-credits scenes, we saw him learning how to use Yondu’s Yaka Arrow with the head-fin that he’d inherited. It remains to be seen whether he’ll ever be able to use the Arrow with as much proficiency as Yondu ever did, but let’s hope there are no unfortunate mistakes from it being in inexperienced hands.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 does not currently have a release date, but Gunn has said he’s going to completely finish work on The Suicide Squad before he fires up the Benatar. So, with the DCEU pic releasing in 2021, I imagine Vol. 3 will land sometime in 2022.
