Originally published March 29, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
During an appearance at the Writers Guild Festival, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn has been discussing the extra freedom he enjoyed on the Marvel sequel as a result of the critical and commercial success of 2014’s origin movie.
“On the second movie I had a lot more freedom,” said Gunn. “Because the first movie did well and it was great not having to explain the five major characters to the audience in the first half hour, we just go straight into the story. This has to be its own thing and you can’t start making this a shitty Xerox of the first one”
Meanwhile, Marvel has also released another two international character posters for the movie featuring Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff), which compliment the rest of the posters we’ve seen over the past few days [see here and here].
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is scheduled for release on April 28th 2017 in the UK and on May 5th in the States, with director James Gunn reuniting with returning cast members Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Glenn Close (Nova Prime) and Sean Gunn (Kraglin) alongside new additions Pom Klementieff (Oldboy) as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Ayesha, Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight) as Ego the Living Planet, Chris Sullivan (The Drop) as Taserface and Sylvester Stallone (Creed) and Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
