All you need to know about a potential Guardians of the Galaxy 4 (2025)

Guardians of the Galaxy 4 still hasn't been officially confirmed by Marvel, and we're no closer to knowing whether it will actually happen.

Zoe Saldaña might not be interested in reprising the role of Gamora, but she did say in April 2024 that "it would be a huge loss for Marvel" if they didn't find a way to bring the Guardians back somehow.

The problem is that James Gunn – the creative genius behind the trilogy – has moved on to his new role as co-head of DC Studios, so he's got a lot to keep him busy over the coming years, including the new Superman movie.

It's been more than a year since the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and following that movie's release, Gunn didn't seem keen to return for another movie. A fan asked him on Threads about a fourth movie and he replied: "I think I'll leave it at 3, sorry."

What's more, while the third movie passed without any major deaths, there were still plenty of goodbyes. Some Guardians stars, like Bautista, have also ruled out a return to their characters (more on them in a bit).

However, Gunn has left open the possibility of somebody else taking on a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. If that does happen, though, he has one stipulation.

"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. And there's so many directors I would like to do that. And I would love to see it happen," he told Esquire Middle East in April 2023.

What could we expect to see from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 4 if it happens? Here's what we know so far about the chances of a fourth movie and how Vol 3's ending sets it up.

At the moment, it looks unlikely that the Guardians will come back for a fourth movie – at least in the form that we currently know them – but nothing is really impossible.

James Gunn has spoken about the fact that he always intended the films to be a trilogy, saying at the European premiere (via Yahoo News): "I was planning on it being three films and I was always planning on this story really being the story of Rocket. I knew that to fulfil that story I really needed to go back to where he started."

He continued: "To get to the end of the story we needed to go back to the beginning. And that's what we did."

It's possible though that the "end of the story" only refers to this particular group of the Guardians. Talking on the Hero Nation podcast back in January 2022, Gunn said that the threequel will be "the last time people will see this team of Guardians".

In the comics, there have been various iterations of the team, so it's possible that a fourth Guardians movie could follow a new team. The third movie even sets up a new team which we could see more of in the MCU's future.

After Peter Quill decides to head back to Earth and Mantis decides to head out on her own adventure, Rocket is proclaimed the new leader of the Guardians, while Nebula and Drax stay on Knowhere to lead the city.

In the mid-credit scene, we see that Rocket has been busy building his new team which features Kraglin, Cosmo, Groot, Adam Warlock and Phyla (likely the MCU's take on Phyla-Vell). It's a powerful team, although remains to be seen if it's big enough to lead its own movie.

More likely right now is that this iteration of the Guardians will pop up in the big Avengers double-bill that wraps up The Multiverse Saga, rather than their own adventure. But maybe in Phase 7...

As mentioned above, Guardians of the Galaxy 4 has yet to be confirmed so we don't have an official release date. Even if a fourth movie does get the green light, it would be quite a while before it would reach cinema screens.

The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie was released in 2014, and then there was a three-year gap before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 was released in 2017. And that gap widened to a whopping six years between Vol 2 and 2023's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 for various reasons.

Marvel has already had to shift some of its confirmed movies to later release dates due to last year's writers' and actors' strikes.

It means that unless a Guardians 4 sneaks into Phase 6, we'll have to wait until at least late 2027 (after the release of Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027) for the next phase of the MCU to start.

Despite what some fans had feared, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 passed without any of our Guardians being killed off.

However, we have some bad news as there are a couple of major cast members who have seemingly confirmed they won't be coming back, even if a fourth movie is confirmed in the MCU's future.

"I don't think this is the end for the Guardians," Zoe Saldaña told The Hollywood Reporter. "It is the end for me, for Gamora."

Appearing on The Tonight Show in February 2023, Dave Bautista also confirmed that this is it for Drax. "This is my seventh film as Drax. And my third Guardians [movie]. It was like our trilogy," he said.

"That's kind of what we all signed up for, to do a trilogy. And I think this will be the last version of our Guardians of the Galaxy. We had all those perfect character arcs and such a storybook ending.

"I constantly relate it to the way I ended my wrestling career. I ended it on a storybook note. And I would never go back and tarnish that. And it's the same with this. With Drax, I just got to end the perfect way."

Bautista has since said that he'd be open to returning to the MCU, but it would have to be in a different role to Drax.

For everybody else, it appears a return could happen, but right now, all we really know is that we'll see Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, again as the post-credit scene ends with the title card: "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return."

This did surprise Karen Gillan, who revealed in March 2024 that she didn't remember seeing that bit in the script (or that she just forgot).

With the new team established, that could also mean returns for the likes of Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Vin Diesel as Groot, while Karen Gillan could return as Nebula – although she doesn't know if she will.

On the day filming wrapped for her on the current movie, she posted on Instagram: "I don't know if Nebula will return beyond this, it's possible that this is her final chapter. And if that's the case, then I just want to say thank you to @jamesgunn for giving me such an interesting, complex and fascinating character to play."

Mantis might have left the Guardians to do her own thing at the end of Vol 3, but we hope Pom Klementieff will return in the role as well. (If it was up to us, we'd give her a Mantis solo movie, but it's not.)

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter though, Klementieff revealed that she'd find it hard for Mantis to be written by anybody other than James Gunn, saying: "I can't imagine playing Mantis with someone else writing the words."

Boooo.

It looked like Chukwudi Iwuji's High Evolutionary was killed off in the third movie, but Gunn has since confirmed that the villain is imprisoned on Knowhere having been rescued by Drax before his ship blew up.

Could the villain return with a vengeance if the Guardians do return?

As Guardians of the Galaxy 4 has not been confirmed, let alone started filming, there's no footage to be had.

Even if the movie does happen, it will be a long wait before we see any clips.

The entire Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is available to watch now on Disney+.