2023's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ended by promising that "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return." Three years later, it still hasn't materialised; short of a huge surprise, Chris Pratt's Peter Quill isn't set to appear in December's Avengers: Doomsday.
Pratt had a terrific run in the MCU, appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and the aforementioned Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
In recent years, Pratt and the rest of the franchise's cast have shared their reluctance to return to the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise without writer and director James Gunn. That didn't bode well, especially as he'd signed a deal to take charge of DC Studios and the DCU.
Well, the filmmaker has now been fired as DC Studios co-CEO, opening the door to a potential MCU return if Jeremy Latcham doesn't ask Gunn to continue telling stories in his "Superman Saga."
While Pratt will likely show up in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Avengers: Secret Wars, could the Legendary Star-Lord return alongside Gunn? The actor certainly hopes so.
"That would be awesome," Pratt said of potentially making Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4 alongside the Man of Tomorrow director. "I love working with James [Gunn]. He’s the man. I haven’t had the chance to speak with him since that news came out... It’s always tough because anytime something like this comes up, it could always become a headline.”
"All I’ll say is I love James. He directed all three movies, and that’s pretty rare," Pratt continued, "so if he wanted to come back and bring it back, I would love that."
The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise was hugely successful for Marvel Studios, but Gunn has suggested that he's finished telling the story he wanted with the team of cosmic A-holes. Ultimately, the best thing for the filmmaker might be to tell an original story or to tackle a franchise that isn't comic book-related.
"I don’t think there will ever be a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4," Gunn said in 2023. "There are many reasons this group will not be back. There could be more Guardians movies, but it won’t be with this group."
"I think as long as somebody brings themselves to it, and doesn’t just try to copy that style—I think it can be really amazing," he said of potentially passing the torch to another filmmaker. "And there are so many directors I would like to do that. And I would love to see it happen."
You can hear more from Pratt in the player below.