Even though the first movie doesn’t come out for a couple weeks, there is already talk circulating about a sequel to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. With early buzz being very positive, it’s almost certain that Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket will surface again to fill one of the dates that Marvel Studios recently announced to take their cinematic universe through 2019. But will James Gunn return to direct? He definitely hopes so.

In an interview with /Film, Gunn mentions that he has a strong sense of ownership over these characters and expresses his desire to revisit them. When asked if he would be okay if someone else came in to play with them, he had this to say:

“Nope. Nope. [Marvel] will do what they want eventually but I’ll have a very hard time letting go of Rocket and Groot.”

He expanded on his comments while appearing on ‘The Adam Corolla Show.’ After touching on how he got the job, Gunn went on to talk about his potential next projects. And according to Screenrant, the filmmaker is basically putting everything on hold until box office numbers and reviews come in for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ to decide what comes next for him:

“I’m actually in a somewhat weird position because if the movie does well, then I’m gonna make the sequel. And if it does okay then, well, I’ve already been offered other movies but I can only do those other movies if I don’t do the sequel, so it’s a weird situation.”

Chances are that another ‘Guardians’ will happen with or without Gunn. Of course, it would be ideal for him to return, but considering that Thanos will play a bigger part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from this point forward, the studio will probably make sure that the sequel happens no matter what. But in the end, hopefully the man who basically rewrote the entire script to fit his vision of the story continues to put in the work to bring these cosmic characters to life.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, would you wan to see James Gunn return for a sequel of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’? Let us know in the comments below.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper blasts off on August 1st, 2014.