James Gunn Explains Why Killing Off Characters Isn't Necessary and Says Goodbye To GUARDIANS VOL. 3 Cast in Set Photo
James Gunn is no stranger to killing off characters in his movies, and one of the things that a lot of fans have been wondering is what characters the filmmaker was going to kill off in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. If you’ve seen the film, you know the answer to this question.
Regardless of who dies and who lives, Gunn believes that killing off characters isn’t really necessary and explains that it’s the stakes that really matter. During an interview with Collider, Gunn said:
“I don't think that killing characters is necessary. One of the things I've discovered over the years as I've killed characters in different movies, people know that I'm willing to do that. So, you know, I killed — I killed. [Laughs] Yondu died in Vol. 2. Original Groot died in Vol. 1. In Suicide Squad, I killed everybody practically. I killed a major character in Peacemaker. So people know I'm a guy who's willing to go there, and I think that the movies have to feel like that. Whether it's true or not, the movies have to feel like their lives are really at stake, and in most movies, I don't feel like that.”
The director went on to talk about why he does kill certain characters in the films he makes, saying that he does it to help serve the story that he’s telling:
“In some cases, I don't think we really think that Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible is gonna die, you know? But for the most part, you need to feel that sense of stakes, and I think that's what's important more so than actually killing someone. It's all a function of story, and if someone dies, it shouldn't be — I try not to have people that die and are just there to service another character. It has to work as a part of the story and isn't just — well, I mean, that's not true in the case of the guys from the beginning of The Suicide Squad. That was just kind of killing them because it's funny, but when in the real story, like I would never have killed Yondu just to kill Yondu. It had to be intimately involved with the story, and I didn't want to kill Yondu. Michael Rooker is one of my very close friends, and I had him surviving in my first draft because I want to work with Rooker again and I wanted to put him in the next movie, and it just came to me that this is what this is about. You know, Peter Quill has to lose this character in his life and Yondu has to sacrifice his life. He has to come through. This is his redemption, and he can only do that by sacrificing his life, so I knew it was the right ending for the story and I'm always in service to that.”
So, when he does kill someone, he makes sure that he does it for the right reasons. The filmmaker also recently shared a photo from the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 featuring him and the cast. That photo came with a note that said:
“Photo from moments after the last time, likely forever, we shot with the full on-set Guardians cast all at once. GotGVol3 opens in just a few days. See you at the movies.”
That’s actually pretty sad. But, they sure did bring the story to a close in a glorious way!