Guardians of the Galaxy 3: Chris Pratt WILL return after Avengers Infinity War shocks

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Avengers – Infinity War.

By the end of Avengers: Infinity War – released to cinemas last week – the only surviving members of Thanos’s Snap were Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Nebula (Karen Gillan).

After Gamora (Zoe Saldana) was cruelly killed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) earlier in the movie, all of the others – including Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill – turned to ash.

That seemingly left a question mark over whether or not he would be returning for Marvel‘s already confirmed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, but it seems he will be back after all.

And so, for that matter, will Mantis (Pom Klementieff), whom he wished a happy birthday to yesterday.

“Happy Birthday @pom.klementieff whom many of you know as Mantis!!!” he wrote on Instagram.

“She’s such a unique, talented and driven artist. Can’t wait to start shooting Guardians Vol. 3 with her next year!

“Hope you’re having a good day Pom!”

That not only confirms Klementieff and Pratt’s involvement in Guardians 3, but also the shoot date: sometime in 2019.

If those two are back, we can perhaps safely assume that Drax (Dave Bautista) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) will be too – but whether or not Gamora is on board depends perhaps on when the film is set, and how Avengers 4 plays out.

James Gunn is returning to write and direct Guardians 3, and he also helped to influence a key moment between Peter and Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War.

When Gamora orders Peter to kill her, because she is the only one who knows the whereabouts of the Soul Stone, Peter struggles – but ultimately does pull the trigger. But with the power of the Reality Stone, Thanos turns the bullets to bubbles.

Speaking to BuzzFeed, Steven McFeely said that the script originally had Quill flat-out refusing to pull the trigger on Gamora.

“The more I think about it, the better it is that it got changed,” he said.

Saldana left a message for fans on her Instagram earlier this week, thanking them for the love that has been shown to her departing character.

However she let slip in a promo interview prior to Infinity War’s release that she is heading back to the set in October to finish filming Avengers 4 – implying she will be in the sequel in some capacity.

Avengers: Infinity War is out now.