As previously teased by director James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will not only be the final chapter featuring the intergalactic crew of misfits we know and love, it will also pave the way for the next several years of the MCU — something Gunn reiterated during a recent Q&A, where he dropped a couple of juicy new details about the third Guardians movie, including what we can expect from the next Awesome Mix.

To promote this week’s release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on DVD and Blu-ray, James Gunn hosted a very special edition of his usual Facebook Live Q&A from the social media giant’s Los Angeles HQ. According to Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will “help to set up the next 10, 20 years of Marvel movies.” It sounds like the final chapter of Gunn’s trilogy will be hugely influential and pivotal for the MCU.

That comment was actually part of a longer answer to a fan who asked if Gunn might introduce Nova, aka Richard Rider, in the third film — it’s a question that’s come up a few times before, and although Gunn didn’t offer anything concrete, his reply was more affirmative than usual:

Yes, definitely. Nova comes up occasionally as someone we might use. One of the things I’m doing with creating Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it will take place after the next wo Avengers movies and it will help to set up the next 10, 20 years of Marvel movies. It’s going to really expand the cosmic universe. We’re going to be setting up new characters. It will be the last movie of this version of Guardians of the Galaxy.

It’s still too early for Gunn to share any specific plot details about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but he was able to offer some insight into how he’s curating the third Awesome Mix. The songs in previous films came from mixes created by Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) mother, but this time around they’ll come from his adoptive father:

Volume 1 and Volume 2 have been Meredith’s song choices, her communication to Peter. In Volume 3, the song choices will be Yondu communicating to Peter.

You’ve gotta imagine that a well-traveled space scavenger like Michael Rooker’s Yondu has a pretty eclectic taste in music, which should make for a fairly wild mix.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 does not yet have a release date, but 2020 seems plausible. Until then, you can pick up your copy of Vol. 2, currently out on DVD and Blu-ray.

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