Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Director: Rocket Has Always Been the Secret Protagonist

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn revealed his motivations for returning to complete the trilogy, saying he wanted to wrap up Rocket's story because he is the "secret protagonist" of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

In an interview with Total Film magazine, Gunn stressed the importance of wrapping up character arcs, explaining that his main focus was on Rocket Raccoon because he was central to the overarching story and deserved the attention.

"For me, the most important thing is Rocket's story, and then, from there, everybody else's story. Rocket was the secret protagonist of Guardians of the Galaxy, and that was always the center of this movie for me, and this really fulfills that. I came back and decided to do this movie because I really felt like Rocket's story needed to be told - it had been put on hold after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."

In the various trailers before "Guardians of the Galaxy 3", Rocket has a heavy role

Gunn reiterated that telling Rocket's story is the "most important thing" for the third film. However, he also pointed out that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is both a standalone film and a trilogy finale that ties together the loose ends of the cast.