Guardians of the Galaxy 3 casts Chukwudi Iwuji in mystery role as filming begins

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 has cast Chukwudi Iwuji in an unspecified role, confirms director James Gunn.

Gunn took to Twitter on Monday to announce that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 has started filming, revealing a picture of the main cast celebrating the occasion. But arguably the bigger news is that the group in the picture includes Iwuji, who plays Clemson Murn in Gunn's upcoming HBO Max series Peacemaker. After speculation that Iwuji had joined the Guardians 3 cast spread like wildfire, Gunn himself issued an update to Twitter confirming the exciting news.

In addition to his starring role in Peacemaker, Iwuji's acting credits include roles in Barry, John Wick 2, Daniel Isn't Real, and the miniseries The Underground Railroad.

"Chuk has indeed joined the cast," Gunn wrote. "After working with him on Peacemaker I wasn’t about to let go of one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with – so I gave him the role most every big name actor in Hollywood wanted."

Marvel has yet to reveal Iwuji's role in Guardians of the Galaxy, but Gunn's language in the above tweet makes it sound like he's playing a fairly major character. Of course, without official word from Marvel, fans on Twitter are going wild with their own guesses and fantasies as to Iwuji's role, from Vance Astro's Major Victory to Rom the Space Knight to Silver Surfer. Others speculate that Iwuji will be playing the High Evolutionary, working alongside Will Poulter's Adam Warlock as one of the movie's main antagonists. 

Guardians of the Galaxy 3's release date is set for May 5, 2023, and Gunn recently affirmed that hasn't changed despite so many movie delays in the last year. See where your favorites ranked on our list of the best superhero movies of all time.