Chris Pratt Says Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Starts Filming In 2019

Screen Rant

Chris Pratt Confirms Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Films Next Year

By Chris Agar

Published May 3, 2018

Chris Pratt confirms in a social media post Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will begin filming at some point next year, presumably for a 2020 release.

This post contains SPOILERS for Avengers: Infinity War

Chris Pratt has confirmed the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will begin filming in 2019. There was a point in time when the sub-franchise was deemed a massive risk for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, considering the characters were obscure to even devout comic book readers. However, a combination of a catchy marketing campaign and heartfelt story about family made the original Guardians of the Galaxy one of the biggest hits in 2014. The sequel, released last year, was even more successful at the box office, making a third installment a foregone conclusion. Writer/director James Gunn has confirmed he'll be back to helm Guardians 3.

Marvel has been fairly secretive about what their plans for Phase 4 are, but the Guardians threequel was one of the upcoming projects to receive regular updates in the countdown to Avengers: Infinity War. Gunn is hard at work on the script and figuring out the track list for the next Awesome Mix. It's long been speculated Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will start production at some point next year so it can meet one of Marvel's claimed 2020 release dates. As it turns out, that's exactly what's happening.

Pratt took to his Instagram account to wish his co-star Pom Klementieff (who plays Mantis) a happy birthday. In his post, the actor wrote, "Can't wait to start shooting Guardians Vol. 3 with her next year!" Check it out for yourself in the space below:

What makes this announcement somewhat problematic is that with the exception of Rocket, the entire Guardians team perished in Infinity War. Thanos sacrificed Gamora so he could acquire the Soul Stone, while Star-Lord, Drax, Groot, and Mantis all turned to ash after the Mad Titan snapped his fingers. Pratt hyping Guardians 3 now is essentially a spoiler that most of (if not all) those deaths won't be permanent. Even though there was a four-year gap between Vol. 2 and Infinity War, Guardians 3 won't be a prequel. Gunn has already gone on record to say the film takes place after Avengers 4, serving as a last hurrah for the current iteration of the team and setting up the next decade of the MCU. With that in mind, odds are Rocket is reunited with his friends by the time Thanos is defeated.

If Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is shooting in 2019, it's all but a guarantee it will eventually land one of the three MCU 2020 release slots. May 1, 2020 sounds like the most plausible option, as that's a similar timeframe to Vol. 2's premiere (May 5, 2017). However, it will still be a while until this information is formally announced by Marvel. They're holding off on more Phase 4 announcements until Avengers 4 has opened, so fans will just have to play the guessing game for now.