Earlier this week, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn took to Facebook to announce that he would be on board for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which will put a cap on the trilogy of films with a nice little bow. But what does this mean for the character arcs for our Guardians?

“I think really that the three movies work together as a whole, they’re going to tell one story,” Gunn told EW. “This is the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and we’re going to get to know the characters even better in the same way we got to know them much better in this film than the first one. I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t have a fairly clear idea of where we were going and what we were going to do. I’m not a guy that’s just going to do it if I don’t have a vision for it. So, I’m very excited.”

So, like every good trilogy, in addition to chronicling three different specific conflicts, expect it all to tell one unified story, when all said and done. But what does this mean for the Guardians themselves? Can we expect them to stick around in future films of the franchise? Whether or not they get their own standalone film after the first one, you know that Marvel will still be utilizing the characters. While we can’t say whether or not Marvel will utilize them later, it sounds like the third film may be the end of this iteration of the group.

Speaking with Screen Rant, when asked if the end of Vol. 3 meant it’s the end of the team, Gunn responded in the affirmative.

“It means it’s the end of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Yeah.”

We have to wonder if he means the Guardians themselves will come to an end, or if it’ll just be the end of this lineup. By the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, we saw a different lineup of superheroes, and with that in mind, we have to wonder if the Guardians will have a similar fate. That being said, the Avengers seems to exist more in an official capacity, while the Guardians seems more of a self-imposed moniker. In short, it seems less prone to a rotating roster than the Avengers.

We’ll have to wait and see what comes of this. Marvel isn’t lacking in characters to utilize, so they could very well drop the Guardians once their story is up. Given how far off they are in the galaxy, Marvel Studios wouldn’t necessarily HAVE to incorporate them down the line if they couldn’t.

What do you think of Gunn’s comments? Do you want to see the Guardians in future films, or would it be okay for Marvel to just let them go? Let us know your thoughts down below!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theaters on May 5, 2017.

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SOURCE: EW, Screen Rant