As one of the warring step-daughters of the mighty Thanos, Karen Gillan’s Nebula quickly established a presence in the MCU, and the Scottish actress has already lined up roles in both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and next year’s Avengers: Infinity War.
Had James Gunn and Co. stuck to the original script, though, Nebula wouldn’t have made it off Xander alive. At least, that’s according to Gillan herself, who spoke to Digital Spy about her involvement in Guardians 2, Nebula’s sisterly spat with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and how her character was initially earmarked to bite the bullet three years ago.
It’s worth pointing out that Karen Gillan is likely referring to the early Guardians script written by Nicole Perlman (Captain Marvel), one which James Gunn fine-tuned upon climbing on board. Based on her comments here, one of those revisions was to alter the fate of Nebula so that the blue-skinned character had the chance to appear in next month’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Per Digital Spy:
I definitely had a feeling that there was room for the character to expand in the future, but she was originally supposed to die in the first movie, I think I remember in the script.
And though fans are looking forward to some on-screen fireworks between Gamora and Nebula, we know that the latter has had a slight change of heart when it comes to Star-Lord and Co. – heck, Zoe Saldana believes Nebula should be the one to slay Thanos when Avengers 4 rolls around in 2019 – and that expanded role has led Karen Gillan to consider the possibility of a spinoff movie.
I mean, that would be amazing, that would be the dream. We’ve never spoken about it though – maybe I’ll casually bring it up tonight at the premiere.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens Stateside on May 5th. A third movie is already on the cards and yes, James Gunn will return to write and direct.