Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 Director On Why He Almost Said No To Chapter 3

James Gunn wasn't always sure that he wanted to come back for the third chapter in the Guardians of the Galaxy series. In April, he announced his intention to direct the upcoming film. He almost didn't do it, and now the director has revealed one of the reasons why he was hesitant about coming back.

SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 FOLLOW BELOW.

In a Facebook Q&A, Gunn said he almost said no to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 because the character played by Michael Rooker, Yondu, is unlikely to factor into it much for obvious reasons.

"Let me tell you, there was nothing harder for me than the choice to kill Yondu in this movie," Gunn said, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, when asked why Yondu had to die. "Michael Rooker, for all the crap I give him, is one of my closest friends in the world and the last thing I wanted to do was to make a movie without Michael Rooker in the future. I almost didn't do Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 because there was no Michael Rooker in it and I couldn't see making the movie without him."

Rooker has been in every one of Gunn's movies to date, going back to Slither. Gunn went on to say that he wrote versions of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's script where Yondu survived. But ultimately, that felt "dishonest," and it was changed so that Yondu didn't make it.

"He means that much to me and I love him that much. And it was the hardest choice I've ever had to make from a storytelling perspective to choose to have Yondu die," Gunn said. "I wrote a bunch of treatments where Yondu did not die. There were other endings--he was saved at the last minute after taking the sacrificial stance, and I wrote many drafts like that. And I realized I was being dishonest. That was not what this story was. For me, the most important thing in making a movie is to tell the truest and most honest story possible, and that's whether you’re making a $500,000 indie film or a $200 million dollar spectacle film.

"And the truth of this story, this was about a father's true and ultimate love for his son," he added. "This is a movie about, Who really are our fathers? Who really are our siblings? And the only way for it to be an honest story was for Yondu to die, and anything else would have been half measures, and would have been me backing out because I was afraid to tell the truth. And so that’s why Yondu dies."

Gunn will write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, though there is no word on a story, release date, or new cast members as of yet. According to Gunn, the story he wants to tell is a trilogy, though there could be a fourth movie with a new team.