Karen Gillan will be back in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The former Doctor Who companion is poised to potentially cut off all her hair (and her hand?*), to reprise her role as Thanos’s adopted daughter Nebula when the sci-fi franchise returns.


Director James Gunn confirmed that Gillian will appear as the blue-skinned villain in the sequel to 2014’s Marvel hit during a fan Q&A on social media site Periscope.

The 44-year-old filmmaker, who has also worked on Dawn of the Dead and Scooby-Do, hinted as much last year, saying: “I have so many plans for Nebula.”

“I love Nebula. I fell in love with the design of Nebula. I fell in love with Karen [Gillan] as a person, and I love the character of Nebula,” he told Yahoo Movies, adding: “She’s the one that you really dig because she’s the cool one that we need to get more of. I hope to god that we get a chance to see a lot more of Nebula.”

During this week’s Q&A, Gunn also confirmed that one character, villain Ronan of the alien race the Kree, won’t be making a return in the sequel – “Ronan is a bad guy, we killed him. Not everything is going to happen in the movies the same as the comics” – and gave fans an update on production for Guardians 2.

“I turned in my treatment,” he said. “I’m going to meet about it on Friday and we will start working on the screenplay next week.”

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper, Guardians of the Galaxy follows Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, and a group of intergalactic criminals who are forced to work together to prevent super-villain Ronan the Accuser taking over the universe.

Gillan’s character Nebula was last seen escaping a fight with her sister Gamora by chopping her own hand off*.


Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is scheduled for release in May 2017