As excited as fans are for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special to arrive on Disney Plus tomorrow, there’s a tinge of bittersweetness in knowing that it marks the current lineup’s penultimate project as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as that of writer and director James Gunn.
The filmmaker is barely going to have a minute to himself once he fully commits to his new role as the co-CEO of DC Studios, so we should enjoy his association with Kevin Feige’s outfit as much as possible before Vol. 3 draws a line under his near-decade tenure as one of the franchise’s most popular creators.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gunn opened up on preparing for the end of the line when it comes to his Guardians team, and it sounds as though emotions have been running high since the very beginning.
“I think I felt a lot of pressure before because it really matters to me that we end this story well. I’ll be honest, I started looking at all the trilogies that have existed throughout time, and in most trilogies, the third movie is awful. There’s a couple of exceptions, but when I say a couple, I mean like two or three. It’s very rare that the third movie in a franchise is good. So, it was important to me that we really ended this story in a good way. A lot of Vol. 3 is going back to the beginning so that we can really see the end. We see the importance of Rocket’s character and who he is. It was just important to me that it worked and that I did everything I possibly could for the sake of these characters and for the fans. So, I put my all into it.”
Comparing the mega budget Vol. 3 to the more modest Holiday Special, Gunn admitted that he found the Marvel Studios Special Presentation to be a breeze compared to a feature-length behemoth with a price tag in the $200 million range.
“It was really hard. This Christmas special was the easiest thing of all time. The movie was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m starting to feel pretty good because I’m starting to see it come together. I’m starting to see how people react to it, and I’m seeing what works. Most of the work now is on VFX and dealing with the score with John Murphy, who did such a spectacular job with the holiday special. But I’ve started to feel pretty comfortable with it because I just want to honor these characters and honor the fans that have supported us this whole way.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 comes to theaters in May of next year, and while it isn’t a definitive goodbye forever, it’ll be the last time we see Gunn’s MCU handiwork for a long time.