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Zoe Saldana Teases Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Reveals When Avatar 2 Production Begins

E! News' Zuri Hall chats with the actress about her upcoming movie roles

By Zach Johnson Mar 22, 2017 8:30 PMTags
Watch: Zoe Saldana Spills Deets on "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"

Zoe Saldana's career is out of this world—literally.

The actress will reprise her role as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, out May 5. The movie reunites Saldana with Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Baby Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) and Michael Rooker (Yondu Udonta), and it introduces new characters played by Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Elizabeth Debicki (Ayesha), Kurt Russell (Ego) and Chris Sullivan (Taserface).

"We'll have a lot more comedy, a lot more action, a lot more heart. I feel that sequels are meant for that. If you can't aim for a sequel to be better than your first movie then you really shouldn't be doing a sequel," she told E! News' Zuri Hall Monday. "James Gunn has just a lot more to say about the Guardians of the Galaxy, and he really went to town with this storyline."

Marvel Studios

Saldana is "super excited" for audiences to learn more about the group before they appear in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. "We're going to get to dive into the relationship between Nebula and Gamora and know why they are who they are, where they came from and why their dynamic is so disrupted right now. It has a lot to do with Thanos, who is the big, big villain in the Avengers: Infinity movies right now that are being shot," she said. "We had a great deal of fun."

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Behind the Scenes

The actress, who was enjoying the ANA All Nippon Airways Experience in Beverly Hills when she talked to E! News, revealed Pratt was the de facto leader on set. "Whoever doesn't love Chris Pratt is crazy! He's one of my favorite actors that I've ever had the opportunity to work with," the actress raved. "I think that what makes him a very special actor is his humanity. He's such a great guy, he's so open and he's really naturally funny. But he's not one of those comedians who's super dark in real life. His life is that animated, he is that happy-go-lucky kind of person, and he radiates all this happiness around him, so the energy tends to be super positive on set."

20th Century Fox

Saldana's 2-year-old twins were too young to remember when she filmed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but the boys took notice of the "makeup" and "costumes" when she returned to shoot Avengers: Infinity War not too long ago. "They have this sense of wonder to them," said Saldana, who announced the birth of her third baby boy in February. "They're very precocious."

While her twins may not have any memories from the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 set, Saldana certainly does. "I love that going back to doing a sequel like Guardians, and going back to working with my friends, there's this familiarity that we all have. It makes me much more comfortable to bring the kids to set to work," the 38-year-old actress admitted to E! News. "From Dave to Chris, to Karen and now Pom, they're just so friendly and so accommodating."

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Movie Pics

And Saldana's boys know that when she's in her green body makeup, she's "going to work." Of course, sometimes they confuse her for another Marvel character. "For some reason they think that Gamora is like family with the Hulk—or that I turn into the Hulk when I'm being mommy!"

"I don't know," Saldana laughed. "But it's hilarious."

Imagine what the twins will think when mommy begins filming the much anticipated Avatar sequels. Though the next movie in the five-part series won't make its targeted Christmas 2018 release date, Saldana promised they are all worth the wait. "It's super hard! I'm with you all. The anticipating is killing me, but I know that James Cameron is a perfectionist, and that's what makes him a brilliant filmmaker. He's going to give us a journey back into Pandora that we're never going to be able to forget. So trust and let's just continue to be patient," Saldana said. "But we are starting production in August. I just got definite dates, and I'm excited about that."