Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 Cast Announced!
Grab your tape deck and get ready to drop Awesome Mix Vol.2 - we’ve got the official cast list for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 – and yes, it’s awesome.
Even though they’ve already been shooting for over a week or so, Marvel and Disney officially announced the start of production this morning. While it was common knowledge, they’ve have confirmed the involvement of Kurt Russell (yes!), Elizabeth Debicki (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and Chris Sullivan (The Knick).
Russell, Debicki and Sullivan join returning cast members Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Glenn Close and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket.
Not returning for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 are Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, who won’t be reprising their roles as Thanos or The Collector in this film. Benicio Del Toro is busy with a trip to a galaxy far, far away, while Thanos appears to busy elsewhere with those pesky Infinity Stones.
And for all those Steve Brule fans out there, it looks like John C. Reilly won’t be returning either.
Here’s the full update from director James Gunn:
“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.”
And here’s the official synopsis:
“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.”
There’s not much to go on there but, let’s delve into a few rumours; some of the last films antagonists, namely Yondu and Nebula, will be joining the ranks of the good guys along with Mantis, to be played by not a rumour but actual fact, previously announced cast member Pom Klementieff (Oldboy).
Another persistent rumour was the involvement of Ego, the Living Planet, who, well, is a living planet. Beginning life in the Black Galaxy, Ego evolved, developing organic attributes — like a brain. Ego’s burgeoning consciousness and intelligence, made the living planet consider its place amongst other planets, where, drawing the conclusion that it was a pretty powerful planet, maybe it could, you know, enslave a galaxy or two – you know those things that our heroes are guardians of…
So, we can sensibly guess who Russell will be playing but what about Debicki or Sullivan?
Well let’s start with what we do know, Gunn has previously said that Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel would not appear in the sequel, so how about someone else from her universe; namely Phyla-Vell aka Quasar.
If Thanos is going to be busy elsewhere buying large stone thrones to scowl into movies from then perhaps Guardians 2 will serve as a springboard for other events in the MCU, namely, the Captain Marvel movie. Could Quasar pass her powers onto Danvers?
This too would be a progressive choice given that Phyla-Vell is a lesbian. Having a gay superhero in a Marvel movie is a huge step towards diversity in mega-budgeted blockbusters.
As for Sullivan, well he’s a big guy, and as big guys tend to play bad guys, could he be the secondary villain for a larger, as yet to be seen threat? Possibly while wearing a lot of prosthetics ala Dave Bautista? Which, if true, let’s hope he turns out to be the breakout star of the piece in much the same way that Drax was the first time around.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 opens in theaters on May 5.