Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a very important movie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

During a Facebook Live Q&A, director James Gunn laid out just how much influence the third installment in the trilogy will have as the MCU enters its next phase. Gunn said Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will help expand the cosmic universe, allowing for new characters and settings to be introduced in a way that makes sense for the audience.

“Nova [a superhero within the Marvel universe] comes up occasionally as someone we might use,” Gunn said. “One of the things that I’m doing with creating Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which will take place after the next two Avengers movies, will help set up the next 10, 20 years of Marvel movies. It’s going to really expand the cosmic universe. We’re going to be setting up new characters and it will be the last movie of this version of Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Gunn didn’t elaborate on what future versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise may look like. There are a number of reasons why the Guardians franchise may change, but one reason is contract negotiations. The actors’ contracts may end after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. If Chris Pratt (who plays Star-Lord in the series) wants out at that point, Marvel will have to find another way to keep the Guardians franchise going.

In April, Gunn confirmed similar details, adding that he would be returning to direct the third installment. In a lengthy Facebook post, Gunn said that while this will end the current Guardians of the Galaxy storyline, the franchise would continue to live on.

“Much of what’s happened in the MCU for the past ten or so years has been leading, in a big way, to the Avengers’ Infinity War,” Gunn wrote. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will happen after all that. It will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is available to purchase on Blu-ray or through digital retailers. Gunn’s full Q&A can be seen below.