Sean Gunn Talks about Who They Considered Killing in GOTG Vol. 3

[SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3]

A lot of fans were sure that a member of the Guardians was going to die in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but somehow director James Gunn managed to subvert expectations by having all of them survive at the end.

As it turns out, killing a character off was considered, but they ultimately decided that it didn’t really service anyone’s arc properly. Talking to ComicBook, Sean Gunn (Rocket, Kraglin) explained:

“We certainly didn’t go out of our way to dissuade any rumors about deaths because you don’t want people knowing where stuff is going… I know James toyed with it at various times, so it was like maybe so-and-so would die… And then just, in the course of figuring out the story, it just didn’t make sense for anyone. And I like where everyone lands, and it’s true, it’s a finality of sorts for a lot of the characters without death, which is pretty interesting to me too.”

The way comic book movies go, it’s usually the death of the character that marks the end of their run with Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, and several other MCU villains. With fans getting familiar with the formula, we have been getting some characters that have retired without having to die like Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye. It’s pretty neat that the Guardians manage to keep the door open to grow the characters and revisit them down the line.

For now, catch Gunn in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 now showing in theaters.