Guardians Vol. 2 Announces Production & New Cast But Captain Marvel Has Yet to Be Named

Jill Pantozzi | February 17th, 2016

James Gunn announced this morning that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has started filming and filled us in on the new and returning cast.

Gunn dropped the following message on his Facebook page:

Official photography on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has started, and I couldn’t be more stoked.

My favorite movie as a small child was The Strongest Man in the World, so I’m glad to announce that, yes, Kurt Russell has joined our cast and, yes, he is more awesome a dude than I ever could have imagined.

The last few days around here with him and our other new cast members, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, and Chris Sullivan, have been some of the best of my life. I never thought anyone was missing from our island of misfit toys, but now that these folks are here there feels like there was.

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, and Glenn Close are all returning.

We’ll have more surprises for you in the coming months. But, for now, this will have to do.

I have to get back to set!

Have a great day, everybody.

Gunn later went on to confirm via Twitter that Klementieff would be playing Mantis, something that was rumored back in October. Russell’s role has been speculated to be Star-Lord’s father. While it’s yet to be confirmed by Marvel or Gunn, I’d say it’s a safe bet.

Debicki, who you can see next in The Night Manager miniseries starring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, has everyone freaking out currently because she’s blonde and six foot three.

But Gunn has said Captain Marvel would not have a role in his film and I believe him. For one, he’s been very forthcoming with fans so far and has put it pretty simply, he wants to focus more on aliens than Earthlings.

But putting those things aside, I honestly don’t think Marvel Entertainment would let Gunn reveal the actor this way if she was to be their Captain Marvel. They like to make big announcements and aren’t shy about revealing surprise guest-stars in other Marvel universe films (like Tom Holland playing Spider-Man). While Captain Marvel may be a relative unknown to the non-comic reading crowd, she is Marvel’s first foray into a solo female led film and that’s a big thing to capitalize on when they’re ready to.

Marvel.com also put up their official press release of Gunn’s sequel:

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” is written and directed by James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Slither”). The film marks the return of the original Guardians, including Chris Pratt (“Jurassic World,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Zoe Saldana (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”) as Gamora; Dave Bautista (“Spectre,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”) as Drax; Vin Diesel (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Furious 7”) as the voice of Groot; Bradley Cooper (“Joy,” “American Sniper”) as the voice of Rocket; Michael Rooker (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Jumper”) as Yondu; Karen Gillan (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Big Short”) as Nebula; and Sean Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Gilmore Girls”) as Kraglin. New cast members include Pom Klementieff (“Oldboy”), Elizabeth Debicki (“The Great Gatsby,” “Everest”), Chris Sullivan (“The Knick,” “The Drop”) and Kurt Russell (“The Hateful Eight,” “Furious 7”).

Set to the all-new sonic backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” continues the team’s adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage.

Gunn also answered a few fan questions in the comment section of his Facebook post. Here’s my favorite: