When director and writer James Gunn pitched his idea for Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Marvel called it "risky" but gave it the greenlight, Gunn said in an upcoming episode of the Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend podcast, Uproxx reports.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2’s story won’t be beholden to the comic book that preceded the movies, according to Gunn.

"It’s different than what’s in the comic books," Gunn says in the podcast episode slated for release next Monday. "Peter Quill’s father is somebody different in the comics. So then when the movie came out, we got greenlit on the sequel right away. I went in and I sat down with those guys and I’m like, ‘OK, here’s what I think the sequel should be.’ And they were like, ‘Oh, whoa. That’s risky, but okay.’ Now I’m going to turn over the story in a few short weeks and we’ll find out how well it works."

Gunn also said that the sequel’s form began coalescing as he was shooting Guardians of the Galaxy. Not only will it answer dangling questions, but it will introduce new characters.

"We’ll get to know some of the characters a little bit more and then we’re going to meet a couple of new characters who will be very important to Guardians movies and probably important to the Marvel Universe as a whole."

Last year, Gunn said he’d like to explore the Ravagers, Yondu and Kraglin, as well as Nebula and the Collector in future installments.

Marvel announced that Guardians of the Galaxy would get the sequel treatment in the weeks before the first movie hit theaters. Last October, Marvel Studios announced that the untitled sequel would arrive in theaters May 5, 2017. In the same month last year, Marvel also announced that a Guardians of the Galaxy animated series was in development.