What Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3's Post-Credits Scene Means For Star-Lord's Future

This post contains spoilers for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" has the customary mid and post-credits scenes for a movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They're thankfully free of any overt sequel teases and instead serve as epilogues for some of our main characters. The mid-credits scene has Rocket (Bradley Cooper) leading a new team of Guardians (Groot, Kraglin, Adam Warlock, Cosmo, and Phyla-Vell). The post-credits scene follows up on where the film left Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) before the credits rolled.

Taking some earlier advice from Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Peter decides to return to Earth and finally reunite with his grandfather, Jason (Gregg Henry). Jason has appeared twice before; in the original film's opening, he was present when Peter's mother/his daughter Meredith passed away. In "Vol. 2," he narrowly avoided being swallowed up by Ego's (Kurt Russell) expansion. The first "Guardians of the Galaxy" even had a deleted ending where an aged Jason would look to the sky while holding a picture of Meredith and Peter. Even though that scene was removed, it seems like it stayed in the back of writer-director James Gunn's mind.

The post-credits scene of "Vol. 3" features Peter and Jason having breakfast. While Peter eats cereal, his grandfather reads a newspaper with the headline "Kevin Bacon, Abducted by Aliens!" (see: "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special"). Peter also mentions that he volunteered to help an elderly neighbor mow her lawn and complains that her 45-year-old son won't help her.

Not the most exciting stinger, but it's followed by a text card bearing a promise: "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return."

Speaking to TotalFilm for their May 2023 edition, Chris Pratt had this to say about his future as Star-Lord:

"I don't see any Quill in my immediate future. I think this journey feels complete. I wouldn't want to rule it out, because I've absolutely loved playing the character, and maybe there's more story to tell."

Pratt definitely sounds more open to returning than Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista, who've both said they are done playing Gamora and Drax, respectively. Director James Gunn recently told Empire, however, that the "Guardians" cast has his blessing to carry on in the MCU even as he jumps ship to the Distinguished Competition:

"It would absolutely not be disloyal of [the actors] to continue on in the Marvel universe. I would love to see any characters that remain [at the end of the film] get solo movies, or join the Avengers, or a new version of the Guardians, or whatever."

Quill is definitely not part of the new Guardians at the end of "Vol. 3," and if he came back, he would undermine Rocket's new position as leader. As Pratt said, Peter's journey does feel complete, so I don't think a solo movie is the way to go either. However, since Star-Lord is on Earth now, he's still pretty close to the center of action in the MCU. I'd say this is the most likely path for Quill's return: cameos in other Earthbound heroes' movies/TV series or maybe even joining the Avengers. For now, however, I'm content with the character having a rest and it sounds like Pratt is too.

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is currently playing in theaters.