Zoe Saldana Confirms She Will Not Return To Her Biggest Role

Zoe Saldana reveals that filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 felt bittersweet, as it would be the last time she would reprise her role as Gamora.

By Douglas Helm | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Zoe Saldana has starred in some of the most successful movies of all time, but her time in one of those franchises will soon be coming to an end. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Saldana talked about the bittersweet nature of filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 saying ” [Filming] started bitter in the beginning cause obviously you’re anticipating the end, but I’m just so happy that once again I got to work with great people.” While fans will certainly miss her as Gamora, it seems like Saldana is at least feeling good about how things are ending.

Zoe Saldana first appeared as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, the film that fully cemented James Gunn (who is now basically becoming the Kevin Feige of DC) as a superhero movie savant. Saldana would go on to reprise the role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be a different version of the character we met in the first film, Saldana has consistently provided a great performance each and every time she appeared as the daughter of Thanos.

zoe saldana
Zoe Saldana as Gamora

Before we see Zoe Saldana in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 we’ll get another adventure with the Guardians team in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Although Gamora isn’t listed in the trailer, there is going to be plenty of Kevin Bacon, so that at least feels like a fair trade-off. All of the other members of the Guardians team will also be present for the holiday special, which is set to release on November 25.

We’ll have to wait a little longer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is set to release on May 5, 2023. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will star Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Dave Bautista as Drax, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Vin Diesel as Groot, Karen Gillan as Nebula, and Zoe Saldana as Gamora. We’ll also meet some new characters such as Chukwudi Iwudji’s High Evolutionary and Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock.

While we won’t be seeing Zoe Saldana in too many more MCU projects, we will be seeing a lot more of her other major franchise, Avatar. Before the year is over, Saldana will reprise her role as Neytiri in the long-anticipated sequel to James Cameron’s 2009 hit Avatar. Avatar: The Way of Water is set to come out on December 16 and will also star Sam Worthington, Michelle Yeoh, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, and more.

After Avatar: The Way of Water, there are three more planned sequels for the franchise, which will no doubt keep Zoe Saldana busy. While we wait to see Saldana return to her two biggest roles, you can see her much sooner in the Netflix mini-series From Scratch, which now has all eight episodes available to stream on the platform. From Scratch follows an American woman who falls in love with an Italian man while studying abroad and stars Saldana along with Eugenio Mastrandrea, Danielle Deadwyler, Judith Scott, Kellita Smith, Lucia Sordo, Paride Benassai, Roberta Rigano, Keith David, and more.