Prior to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's release, we had heard reports that the MCU threequel would primarily focus on Rocket's backstory as well as the relationship between Gamora and Nebula.
We have no idea if plans changed during development, but the final film dedicated hardly any time at all to the dynamic between the "Daughters of Thanos."
In Disney+'s Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Gamora actress Zoe Saldaña revealed that she would have loved to have seen the relationship further developed and explored in a spin-off focusing on both characters.
"I would have loved to have just seen a spin-off based on that sisterhood. It's so complex. It's so controversial," she said. "It's also so relatable in a sense that, not me by personal experience, but knowing that there are siblings out there that have had troubled lives at home, and managed to survive because of their kinship, because of their brotherhood or their sisterhood."
Gamora and Nebula did have satisfying individual arcs, but with both Saldana and Karen Gillan confirming that they are done with the MCU (at least for the foreseeable future), we are unlikely to get to see their characters back together in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
At the end of Vol. 3, Gamora - who wasn't the character we knew from the first two movies, but an alternate timeline Variant - chose to leave the Guardians and return to her Ravager family after bonding with Peter Quill and the others.
While speaking to THR about the film in a previous interview, Saldaña admitted that she did initially envision a different fate for the Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy.
"It was a bittersweet decision, obviously. I wanted to know that in the final chapter, Gamora stays on and finds a way to become a Guardian again. But this felt like the right way to end things for her, because of what she had been through. At the end of the day, any multiverse that she would’ve come from, she was still going to have the same experience with Thanos [Josh Brolin], and she was still gonna have the same guilt and the same trauma. So she finally found solace with the Ravagers, and she felt more open than she had ever been."
As Gamora bids farewell to Star-Lord, she whispers, "I bet we were fun," finally acknowledging their connection.
"I think the whole thing with Peter bothered her, because even though she had no recollection of who he was, she had a sense that it must have been special. And I appreciated that takeaway because it kind of gave us the hope that if the Guardians seek help again from the Ravagers, maybe Gamora and Peter will find a way back into each other’s lives, even if it’s just as friends."
Would you have preferred to see Gamora remain on Knowhere with her sister, or maybe even accompany Quill to Earth?
"In Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 our beloved band of misfits are settling into life on Knowhere. But it isn’t long before their lives are upended by the echoes of Rocket’s turbulent past." "Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him on a dangerous mission to save Rocket’s life—a mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them."
Gunn writes and directs Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, and Maria Bakalova. Kevin Feige is the producer and Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nikolas Korda, Simon Hatt, and Sara Smith serve as executive producers.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now available on Digital platforms, and on Disney+.