James Gunn almost killed off Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

This Friday, Marvel fans will get to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the final movie in the trilogy that started back in 2014 with the original Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s wild to think the series has been going on for that long, and that this may be the last time we hang out with the likes of Star-Lord, Rocket and Gamora.

Although had Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 gone as originally planned, we already would have seen the last of Thanos’ daughter Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana. According to director James Gunn, his original plan was to kill off the character much earlier. “Gamora almost died in ‘Vol. 2,’” he told ComicBook.com. “I knew from the beginning Zoe only wanted to play the character for so many years, and she’s been very honest saying that she’s done [after this]. And so I was going to have her die. I thought she was the one that was going to sacrifice herself… I was kind of talked out of it by [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] and Louis [D’Esposito] and then it just didn’t work that well. It didn’t feel right. It felt much more right to go where we go in that movie. That seemed what was correct for the story.”

Instead, Gunn killed off the character of Yondu, played by Michael Rooker. Gunn and Rooker are friends, so Gunn was hesitant, “but that was where the story naturally progressed to.”

Anybody could die in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The irony here is that Gamora eventually did die…but in Avengers: Infinity War rather than in a Guardians movie. “They called me up and said, ‘We’re thinking about this, does this work? Can you work with this?’ And I went, ‘Got it, yeah. I really can,’” Gunn said.

And even after all that, Gamora didn’t stay dead. Well, the one we knew from the first two movies is dead, but Avengers: Endgame brought in another version from an alternate dimension; we’ll hang out with her in Vol. 3.

Will this Gamora survive? That’s anyone’s guess. At this point, Feige and co. are letting Gunn do what he wants. “I think he gets all the slack,” Feige told Gizmodo. “As much slack as there is to give, he is given.”

"On previous movies, we had some discussions about that but not on this one. This one really was about seeing it through because it always was designed as a trilogy capper."

So anyone could die this time. We’ll find out who makes it when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters on May 5.

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