Good news for Groot's fans! Director James Gunn has confirmed that Vin Diesel will return for "Guardians of the Galaxy" 2. Diesel, the fierce lead protagonist of the street-action film, "Fast and Furious," will be playing as the crowd favorite space tree.
Gunn confirmed the news via Facebook by answering a fan who asked if Diesel will be back for "Guardians of the Galaxy" 2, to which he answered with a solid "Yes." Gunn is reportedly fond of turning to social media to address questions from fans.
According to ScreenCrush the fan made a typo by writing "Guardians of the Galaxy" 3, the said question caused a stir among fans, especially with Gunn's answer to which some took as a confirmation for a third film.
While the third film is not yet confirmed, the director has already affirmed that the audience will see Diesel and Groot in the upcoming superhero flick, probably with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Karen Gillan.
On the other hand, Benicio Del Toro said that he is not sure if he will appear in the sequel, but he is optimistic that fans will see the supervillain Taneleer Tivan, also known as "The Collector," in the MCU again soon.
According to Entertainment Weekly, it's not clear how Groot will look like in the sequel. He was last seen as a tiny dancing sprout in the previous film, and when the "Guardians of the Galaxy" was about to end, Groot sacrificed himself to save Quill, Drax, Rocket and Gamora. However, a sapling from the remains of Groot survived, which later grew into a baby Groot, International Business Times has learned.
However, fans should not assume right away that it is the same Groot. Gunn told ScreenRant, "Well, who says baby Groot is Groot and not Groot's son?" This character is definitely something that fans will be looking forward to.
Diesel has recorded the character's signature line, "I am Groot" in different languages including French, Spanish, Russian, Brazilian, Portuguese and Mandarin, Entertainment Weekly has learned. Diesel revealed to Access Hollywood that his voice in the recording was not altered. "They didn't computerize my voice. It was just me," he said.
Upon receiving the concept art, Diesel showed it to his family and asked his kids which characters they think he would play, and they pointed to the tree. At that moment he felt, "This is going to tap into people in a way that I can't even explain. Jump cut to [my kids] seeing the movie, loving the movie, imitating Groot and Rocket and everybody...my kids now look at trees differently."
"Guardians of the Galaxy" 2 will hit theaters on May 5, 2017.
