Thanks to COVID-19 and director James Gunn's temporary removal from the project, production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is getting started a little later than originally planned, but it will finally kick off later his year. While speaking with Collider recently, James Gunn confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will start shooting in Georgia this November. The writer/director also said that the script has largely remained unchanged over the past three years.
It’s basically been finished for years. I keep fiddling with different things and adding things, and figuring out permutations and stuff — I’m in the middle of doing another draft now — but it’s really small stuff in comparison to what it has been. It’s basically been finished since three years ago.
We don't know all that much about what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will bring us, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed quite a bit since the last Guardians film. With the death of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) in Avengers: Infinity War and the arrival of an alternate version in Avengers: Endgame, it's hard to say just how that will affect the team moving forward, but James Gunn he knows "that the characters have been through certain things" in the films they've appeared in since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, "so I have to deal with that stuff."
We will be catching up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, minus Gamora, a little sooner than we think as the team is slated to appear in Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder alongside Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, and Christian Bale. The Thor sequel will hit theaters on May 6, 2022, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 set for a May 5, 2023 release.