James Gunn broke into the Marvel machine in 2012 when it was announced that he would be the man responsible for bringing Guardians of the Galaxy to life. Based around the lesser known comic characters of Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot, the project once thought to be a risk has now become one of Marvel Studios' most popular franchises. Gunn is largely responsible for crafting a simple but touching story that featured great jokes, lots of action, and an incredible soundtrack. This is why it was no surprise to anyone who saw the film to learn that Gunn had already agreed to write and direct the sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Gunn began to work on the script immediately after the announcement was made in 2014 with the release date set to 2017 later on. A three year gap may seem like plenty of time between installments, but really amounted to Gunn spending over a year writing the script and finishing other stages of pre-production before filming began last year. As it turns out, today is actually the one year anniversary to the start of production, giving Gunn a chance to quickly reflect on the project.

Gunn celebrated the anniversary by posting a photo on Instagram of the very first rehearsal held for Vol. 2 one year ago today in Atlanta. Assembled for the start of production were Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Gunn, Dave Bautista (Drax), and Sean Gunn - who serves the dual roles of actually playing Kraglin while also bringing Rocket to life on set. Just as some others may feel, Gunn can't believe its already been a year since this process began.

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In the grand scheme of things, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has not appeared to have many (if any) bumps along the way. Filming went smoothly by all accounts and so has the editing process most likely, with Gunn having now shifted his focus on completing the score. With more than three months left before the film's release, Gunn and company should have no time locking in the final cut of the film that looks to be even bigger than its predecessor.

With it being a year since the filming process began on the movie, it is fun to reflect on the sequel as a whole right now and see just how little is actually known. Sure, Marvel has revealed that Elizabeth Debicki's Ayesha will be the villain and the identity of Star-Lord's father with Kurt Russell playing Ego the Living Planet, but other than that major or even general plot points are still unknown. Vague descriptions of a bigger threat are known to be in play, but those involved and the marketing have really not given much in terms of concrete story details. This could lead to audiences going into the Guardians sequel fresher than has become the norm for big blockbusters like these - hopefully, resulting in a better experience for everyone.

Source: James Gunn