"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is one of the most anticipated upcoming Marvel films, and not just because director James Gunn is returning (and possibly stepping down) from the MCU. It also appears to be the final chapter in the Guardians story (a spin-off cannot be ruled out).

Marvel and Gunn are keeping the details about "Guardians 3" tight, but we know enough about its casting from Gunn's own social media posts. And a new big casting announcement has been made, giving fans plenty of reason to start speculating about what's next for Star-Lord and crew.

The big news on the Guardians 3 casting is that James Gunn and Marvel have found Adam Warlock, who Deadline has confirmed will be joining Will Poulter ("Midsommar," "We're The Millers," "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) to play the role. Gunn previously told IGN that he plans to bring back Elizabeth Debicki, who previewed Warlock in a post-credits scene in "Guardians 2," to play Ayesha. [Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Bradley Cooper (voice of Rocket), Vin Diesel (voice of Groot), Pom Klementieff (Mantis). And yes, as the Avengers, "How's Gamora? Endgame" inserted the 2014 Gamora into 2023 and brought her back to life.

Gunn confirmed on his Instagram Stories (via ScreenRant) that his brother Sean Gunn will return as Kraglin (an acquaintance of Yondu's Ravager).

What is less clear is the possibility of Sylvester Stallone reprising his role as Stakar in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Before Gunn left Marvel in 2018, he told the Toronto Sun, "My plan is to see more of Stakar. I don't know if he'll be in 'Vol. 3,' so we'll have to wait and see, but it's our plan to see more Stallone. Kevin (Feige) and I are trying to figure out what Marvel's Cosmic Universe is going to look like and where it's going. The "they" are Aleta Ogord (Michelle Yeoh), Charlie 27 (Ving Rhames), Martinex (Michael Rosenbaum), and Mainframe (voiced by Miley Cyrus).

However, these words were before Gunn's temporary departure from the MCU, and Guardians Vol. 3 was "probably the last." His August 2021 interview with the NYTimes said, "It's fun, because of the ability to do different things in the DC multiverse. Gunn can move forward with the return of those characters because he oversees them.

The "they" Gunn refers to are Aleta Ogord (Michelle Yeoh), Charlie 27 (Ving Rhames), Krueger (a CG character), Miley Cyrus-voiced Mainframe, and Stallone's Starhawk and Michael Rosenbaum's The original Guardians crew, including Martinex. Michael Rooker's Yondu was also once a member of this crew.

As for Michael Rooker as Yondu. Don't expect him to come back to life after sacrificing himself for Star-Lord. As I have said before, Yondu is dead and will remain dead as long as I am involved with the Guardians. His death means something to people and I will not diminish that." (via Digital Spy, original tweet no longer available).

The clip, titled "Marvel Studios Celebrates The Movies," builds anticipation for upcoming Marvel films, including the then-unreleased Black Widow, and also announced that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be released on May 5, 2023 in The film will be released in theaters.

Guardians 3's release date has been rumored to be May 2023 for some time (Disney has announced a schedule with dates tied to slots such as "Untitled Marvel Movie"), but it has been confirmed.

A Deadline report breaking the news of Poulter's casting as Adam Warlock noted that production is expected to begin in November 2021.

Plot details for "Guardians 3" have not been revealed as of yet, but it is not hard to imagine what they will work with Adam Warlock. Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), the leader of the Sovereign, ordered the Guardians to protect Abilisk and hired Yondu to hunt them down. She was later accused by other members of the Sovereign of wasting resources and imprisoned. In a post-credits scene in Guardians 2, it was revealed that she created an entity named Adam (who was then in a birth pod) to defeat the Guardians.

Curiously, the Adam Warlock in the comics was associated with the Soul Stone (one of the Infinity Stones) on his forehead.

However, it is not known if Warlock will be the main villain in Guardians 2. In the comics, Adam Warlock famously went against the will of the earthbound scientists who created him. So he may not be submitting to Ayesha's will after all.

Nothing else has been revealed about the plot of Guardians 3, but we can infer one of the storylines from previous films in the series.

Gamora, whom we will see in Vol. 3, basically has no idea who Star-Lord or the other Guardians are. No, it is not amnesia, it is time travel, this is Gamora in 2014. So a key part of the film is expected to be the team's adaptation to this new/old Gamora. Of course, that includes Star-Lord. He likely still loves Gamora, and in unleashing his feelings for her, he ruined his relationship with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War