Director and writer James Gunn has said Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 will mark the end of the current line-up.

The next movie in the series isn’t expected to be released until at least 2020, but will likely feature all the main characters including Rocket, Groot, Star-Lord, Yondu, Mantis, Drax and Nebula.

Gunn confirmed scripts for the third instalment in the franchise as well as future cosmic Marvel films “are already in the works”. “Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios head] and I talk about it all the time; we just had a meeting today,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Discussing what is the next iteration of cosmic characters and where are the characters that we’ve already created going to go in the next batch of films.”

As THR notes, Sylvester Stallone‘s team of Ravagers could be the central focus of future Guardians films. Gunn would only say that he is “definitely interested in the direction that these characters are headed and their roles in the Marvel Universe.” 

However, he did confirm the Ravagers’ time-travelling origins would not be explored in future films. “That is not something that we’re dealing with,” he said. “These are older characters than our Guardians. So we’re focusing on that.”

The director also said he wasn’t afraid to veer away from storylines featured in the comic books, saying he always does “what’s best for the movie”. “A lot of times that means taking things from the source material, other times it’s changing things. I’ve changed a lot already from the comics with the Guardians.” 

He continued: “Groot’s personality in the first Guardians, which people loved, was nothing like his personality in the comics. He didn’t have that puppy-dog innocence that we love about Groot. I don’t restrain myself in any way when it comes to using stuff from the comics or not using it.” 

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