Drax (Dave Bautista) will not be joining the next voyage into deep space. An eventual fourth adventure of The Guardians of the Galaxy will have to do without one of its most beloved characters. The news comes a few days after James Gunn announced the end of filming for the film that closes the trilogy. And Bautista himself has been in charge of making it clear that despite his great experience during filming, his character will not return. It is a sensitive loss in one of the most endearing and atypical stories of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This week, the actor who plays Drax posted a photo previously shared by Gunn to celebrate the end of filming. This is an event of particular interest to Marvel due to the popularity of the characters. Also due to the fact that the subfranchise is related to much of Phase 4 of the Marvel saga in theaters. The characters will feature prominently in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder movie, as well as a Christmas special on the Disney+ platform. So the third and apparently final part of his story has aroused considerable interest.

The actor Dave Bautista is promoting the film Final Score and has done a SPOILER of Avengers 4.

But in addition to showing his satisfaction with teamwork, Bautista did something else in photography. He added what appears to be a formal goodbye to Drax in the franchise. He even added a few hashtags making it clear that Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 will most likely be Drax’s final farewell.

“I haven’t found the words yet,” the actor wrote in the Instagram post that you can read here. “It ended so suddenly and I was on my next movie before I could process it all. End of a trip that changed my life. #guardiansofthegalaxy #vol3 #GoodbyeDrax #DreamChaser #DreamMachine.”

An Emotional Farewell for Drax

It is not the first time that Dave Bautista or Drax for Marvel suggests that this will be the last appearance of his beloved character on screen. For a few months, the actor has been letting slip comments about his aspirations for a career in the film world outside the world of superheroes. For the premiere of Denis Villeneuve’s film Dune, Bautista offered statements that his long-term intentions were “more serious roles.” A point that he insisted on several times and that now returns to the fore due to the end of filming of Gunn’s film.

In fact, the same director seems to make it clear that the third film in the saga in his charge would be the last that would show the group of characters together. In January, the director commented that fans of the sub-franchise should expect a much darker film than the previous ones. Also bigger and more ambitious. Both statements coincide with rumors of a tremendous end to the adventures of the beloved Guardians of the Galaxy.

James Gunn – Dave Bautista – Drax – Guardians of the Galaxy – Marvel Cinematic Universe –
“This is the end for us, the last time people will see this team of Guardians, ” Gunn told Deadlin ‘s Hero Nation podcast. “It’s big and dark and different than what people might expect.” For the director, it’s an issue about the story’s fidelity to characters like Drax, for whom he has a special affection. “I just want to be true to the characters, the story, and give people the conclusion they deserve from the story. That’s always a little scary; I’m doing the best I can”.

goodbye to old friends

For months, it has been rumored that several of the Guardians of the Galaxy characters will most likely die in the latest installment. Or at least dissociate themselves from this universe – something that we hope will be the future of Drax. A kind of final closure to a story that changed the way Marvel relates to its narratives. In fact, for Gunn, it is the farewell of a particularly strange and conflictive stage of his film career. One that included an overnight success and also, a public dismissal from his director’s chair. In the end, Guardians of the Galaxy got its director back but also, it’s headed for what appears to be a concrete ending.

“After over 100 days of filming and over 3,000 shots, this is the slate for the final shot of #GotGVol3,” Gunn wrote on Twitter. “I spent most of the last ten years of my life working and thinking about the Guardians. I still have a long way to go with VFX and editing, but it was still a big deal for me.”

“It’s a simple thing to explain to others how much I love this cast and crew. It’s harder to explain how much I love these characters. That I see them as parts of myself and parts of those I love. Filming them and also writing their words is a way of expressing that love,” he added. “Again, I will continue to work with them for the next year until launch. But filming that last shot was a warm reminder of the impermanence of life and love, and how that impermanence makes it so precious, it’s a good reason to be grateful for what I have right now.”