With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 now in cinemas across the globe, writer/director James Gunn has revealed that he’s already begun work on the already-confirmed third Guardians effort.

After finally confirming his return for Guardians 3 only last month, Gunn has revealed to USA Today that he’s already started writing the threequel and that he’s been having “pretty intense conversations” with stars Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana. Interestingly, it’s being reported that those chats with Saldana have centred around making her Gamora character even more important and significant for this final leg of Gunn’s Guardians trilogy.

While Star-Lord, Gamora and Co. will be present when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes battle Thanos in May 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will actually be released after both Infinity War and its May 2019 follow-up. Additionally, Guardians 3 will also take place after both of these Avengers outings.

Previously, the storyline gap between the action of the first two Guardians films was just 6 months despite there being a 3-year gap between their respective release dates. Now, though, a fairly decent chunk of time will have passed by the time the ragtag Guardians crew turn up to fight alongside Captain America, Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers crew.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 review here.