Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Has (Not Yet) Begun Production [UPDATED]

Marvel Studios may have recently pushed back all of their movies on the 2022 release calendar, but there's one movie on their future slate of comic book blockbusters that is standing strong. "Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 3" is still on track to kick off the blockbuster summer in a couple years by hitting theaters on May 5, 2023. Now we have word from franchise star Chris Pratt that the movie is a little ahead of schedule with today marking the first day of production on the Marvel Studios sequel. 

While announcing the latest episode of "Parks and Recollection," a podcast looking back at the entire series run of "Parks and Recreation," Chris Pratt revealed that he was on the set of ""Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" for the first day of production. That's a bit of a surprise since Marvel Studios didn't officially announce the commencement of principal photography, but the studio hasn't actually been announcing the start of production for many of their films recently. The only reason we know it's ahead of schedule is because Dave Bautista previously said the film would start shooting in November. Then again, that could be when Bautista starts shooting, and the movie was always intended to being production in October. Or maybe Chris Pratt is just mistaken about when production officially starts altogether, because James Gunn posted this:

Despite stories to the contrary, we haven't started shooting #GotGVol3 yet (but we are pretty close).

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) October 19, 2021

For now, we're mostly in the dark when it comes to the story of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," though we know it will take place after the events of "Thor: Love & Thunder," which will feature appearances by some of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Only recently did we learn that "We're the Millers" and "The Maze Runner" co-star Will Poulter was cast as Adam Warlock, the artificial being created by the Sovereign to destroy the Guardians, as teased in one of the many credits scenes from "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." Plus, Nebula and Mantis are said to have considerably larger roles in this sequel. 

Besides that, James Gunn has been very open about "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" marking the end of the story for this iteration of the cosmic superhero team. It will likely also mark the end of Gunn's time with the Marvel franchise. Instead, Gunn appears to be leaning towards spending more time in the DC Extended Universe after directing "The Suicide Squad." That's a bit of a bummer, but considering Gunn was previously (and unjustly) fired from "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," we're lucky to have him back for one more round. 

Now that production on "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" has (almost) begun, hopefully we'll be getting plenty more updates about the sequel.