Rumors have been circulating for a while now regarding a potential role for Firefly and Castle actor Nathan Fillion in Marvel’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and those reports were confirmed this week by the director himself, James Gunn.
Responding on Twitter to a question about Fillion’s presence in the film, Gunn indicated that the fan-friendly actor will have “a very small fun cameo he did as a favor to me.”
Fillion and Gunn previously worked together on the horror film Slither, the filmmaker’s 2006 directorial debut.
As for what role Fillion will be playing in the cosmic adventure, various outlets initially speculated that he’ll be playing Richard Rider, the superhero known as Nova and the most prominent member of the Nova Corps, an organization of intergalactic peacekeepers. Gunn also addressed this rumor on Twitter, dismissing it and apologizing to fans who were excited at the prospect of seeing Fillion suit up as the character.
“The rumors of my pal @NathanFillion playing Nova in #guardiansofthegalaxy have been greatly (and entirely) exaggerated. Sorry, humans.” wrote Gunn.
Even with Fillion in just a minor cameo, the actor’s large, vocal fanbase will certainly be happy to see him appear in the film, which already has an impressive cast. Along with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio del Toro, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Karen Gillan, Gregg Henry, and Michael Rooker, actors Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper will provide the voices of digitally created characters Groot and Rocket Raccoon, respectively.
Guardians of the Galaxy tells the story of a ragtag group of dangerous misfits who become the universe’s last, best hope against a terrible enemy who will stop at nothing to retrieve an item stolen by Pratt’s character, Peter “Star-Lord” Quill. The film hits theaters August 1.
