Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ended with the promise that Star-Lord would return, but Chris Pratt was not one of the many actors confirmed to be in Avengers: Doomsday. Apparently, scheduling issues are the culprit for Pratt’s absence from the Doomsday cast. According to Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider, Pratt is gearing up to work on the latest season of his TV show The Terminal List. That commitment has prevented him from joining the latest Avengers blockbuster. However, Sneider says there’s still a possibility Pratt comes back to the MCU depending on how things play out from here.
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“For example, as of this writing, Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord will not appear in Doomsday, as the actor will be busy filming Season 2 of his Prime Video series The Terminal List,” Sneider wrote when explaining there are Marvel actors “still figuring out their summer shooting schedules.” He continued, “However, if [directors Joe and Anthony Russo] can catch him at the tail end of shooting, he might be able to swing it — it just depends on a variety of factors. But if Marvel needs to proceed without him, it is more than prepared to do so.”
Back in February, when doing press for his movie The Electric State, Pratt opened up about his Marvel future and the tease in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, ensuring fans that “we will make good on that promise.” However, he obviously could not confirm if Star-Lord would appear in Avengers: Doomsday or a different Marvel project. No actors associated with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise were announced during the Doomsday cast reveal.
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Earlier this month, MCU concept art seemingly from Avengers: Doomsday and/or Secret Wars made its way online. Star-Lord was featured in some of the images; one picture teased an unexpected bromance between Star-Lord and Vision, while another showed Star-Lord and Wong at a bar with a Young Avengers team. The Russo brothers later said the concept art is not from Doomsday.
Star-Lord has been a prevalent figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so it was reasonable to assume he would be part of the fight against Doctor Doom. Perhaps at one point in Doomsday‘s development, a role for him was considered, but Marvel decided to pivot once Pratt’s schedule became a hurdle. While Guardians of the Galaxy fans would certainly love to see the character on the big screen again, Marvel has pulled out all the stops for Doomsday, uniting Fox’s X-Men actors with the stars from The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Thunderbolts*, and more. There’s so much to be excited about in this film that even the most die-hard Star-Lord fans shouldn’t mind too much. Plus, Marvel has teased there are even more casting announcements in store.
The prospect of Pratt being a (very) late addition to the Doomsday ensemble seems questionable at best. From the sound of things, the film was conceived without a role for the actor due to him filming The Terminal List. Given Pratt’s history with the MCU and the Russo brothers, it’s somewhat understandable if the creative team wanted to make room for him, but they’d arguably be better off waiting until Secret Wars to bring Pratt back. Doomsday has so much on its plate in its current state that shoehorning in a quick cameo for Star-Lord wouldn’t add much value.
