The third and final entry in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy has landed on Disney+. Written and directed by James Gunn, executive produced by Kevin Feige, starring returning Guardians Chris Pratt (Star-Lord/Peter Quill), Zoe Saldaña (Gamora), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, with newcomers Maria Bakalova (Cosmo), Chukwudi Iwuji (The High Evolutionary), and Will Poulter (Adam Warlock), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now streaming on Disney+.

Writer-director James Gunn started working on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy nearly 12 years ago. Back then, he could only dream of the reception the series would have. “I had hopes. I felt really good about it from the beginning; I felt like we were doing something different; I felt like the world kind of needed a space fantasy that was different from ones we had seen before. So I was very pleasantly surprised when my hopes did come true,” he said. “But I think in terms of the story that we were telling over the three movies, I did have a sense of how it was going to go from the beginning.”

But Gunn’s biggest takeaway from the past decade will be the people involved in the making of the films. “In terms of this family of people, I’ve been really good at hiring non-jerks — not only non-jerks, but people who are actually positive, compassionate, loving, kind people,” he shared. “I’ve just grown incredibly close to these people, I really love them, and it makes making movies a much more pleasant experience. So my main memories are not going to the premieres or going on these press junkets, it’s being on set and having the little moments.” Chris Pratt, who has led the series as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, agreed. “Making movies is really fun. When you get to do it with people that you love, it’s even more fun,” he explained. Despite that, he said, sometimes the resulting film can be a disappointment. However, “with James, both the journey and the destination have been glorious. The films are incredible. I don't know how he does it. Selfishly, I’d be willing to deal with a terrible journey to get to this destination — but it happens to be an incredible journey as well.”

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has a bird’s-eye view of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a hand in each of its entries, but this conclusion feels momentous even to him. “You know, we’ve had trilogies before — we've had a number of them actually — and I was thinking, why does this feel so different, and so much of a passage of some sort?” he wondered. “And it’s because Guardians really was the first movie that was completely outside the realm — it tied in with Thanos and Infinity Stones, but the Avengers were not in it, and we weren’t setting up Tony Stark’s next adventure, or Captain America... So it does feel like this trilogy represents something unique within the pantheon of the MCU that I’m very proud of.”