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'That's simply [Fillion] clowning around on set,' Gunn tweeted

James Gunn says Nathan Fillion was never in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 despite set photo

UPDATE: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn weighed in on Nathan Fillion’s Instagram post Friday morning, telling fans on Twitter that the image he posted was “never a scene in the movie,” and that the actor was ‘just clowning around on set.”

EARLIER:Castle and Firefly star Nathan Fillion has posted on Instagram a photo of himself in what he claims is a cut scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (out May 5). The image shows Fillion wearing a wig and outlandish attire piloting a spaceship.

“From a scene you won’t see in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” the actor wrote in an accompanying note. “Is the movie still spectacular without it? Yes.”

Fillion is a longtime friend and collaborator of Guardians franchise director James Gunn, so it is possible this is some elaborate gag on the actor’s part. But Fillion did make a brief cameo in the first Guardians film, voicing a blue-skinned alien. Moreover, last April, comicbook.com posted images from the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 which indicated that Fillion is playing a movie star named Simon Williams. If true, that would suggest that the Instagram image is from a film within the Guardians movie universe.

Fillion’s professional relationship with Gunn dates back to the filmmaker’s 2006 directorial debut, the monster movie Slither, which costarred future Guardians franchise star Michael Rooker. Coincidentally, Scream Factory is releasing that film for the first time on Blu-ray, July 25. You can see trailers for both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Slither above.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens May 5.

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