Best known for his role in AMC’s The Walking Dead, Michael Rooker has now boarded next year’s immensely anticipated blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy.
Director James Gunn and Rooker have worked together in the past, most notably in Gunn’s first two features, Slither and Super. And after a few months of speculation that Rooker would be cast in the upcoming Marvel movie, it’s finally been confirmed, with Rooker taking the role of Yondu.
Courtesy of Marvel:
Yondu Udonta was a game hunter of the primitive Zatoan tribe, which were humanoid beings who were native to Centauri IV. The first planet system to be colonized outside of the Sun’s solar system; the colonization took place sometime during the 29th century.
Yondu was a founding member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, in a different variant to the version we’re expecting to see Gunn bring to the big screen next year. Yondu’s Guardians was co-founded by himself and Astro, Charlie-27, and Martinex.
The main Guardians we should be seeing next year, however, are expected to be led by Star-Lord / Peter Quill, Drax, Groot, Gamora, and Rocket Racoon. How Yondu will play into Gunn’s comic book movie remains to be seen.
Chris Pratt was the first member of the cast to come on board, taking the leading role of Peter Quill / Star-Lord. And he was soon joined by Dave Bautista, with Zoe Saldana most recently reported as being in talks for the role of Gamora.
Gunn will be directing from a script by Nicole Perlman and Chris McCoy, with Gunn doing a rewrite after coming on board.
Guardians of the Galaxy will be released on August 1st, 2014. It follows the releases of Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and comes directly before the release of The Avengers 2 in 2015. Needless to say, it’s a must-see movie of the year for 2014. Here’s to hoping we’ll have some more casting news soon.
