Vin Diesel Says Disney Wants a Groot Spinoff Movie

Vin Diesel has hinted at a Guardians of the Galaxy Groot spinoff film.

The 57-year-old actor had played the talking tree in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy as well as Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder, and has now teased he could be reprising the role for a solo movie.

On Instagram, the Fast & Furious star wrote: “Disney wants their Planet X! Which some say is Marvel’s most anticipated movie, haha. The film where Groot returns to his home planet.”

Diesel had starred in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, which was directed by James Gunn, with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff and Dave Bautista.

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While he seems interested in playing his Guardians of the Galaxy character again, Diesel’s co-star Dave Bautista, who played Drax the Destroyer in the three films, insisted he was done with his hero.

He told ComicBook.com: “Drax is completely closed to me. Unless James Gunn called me and asked me if I would do something as Drax again, I just wouldn’t be interested.”

The former WWE superstar added Gunn’s involvement in the MCU was likely over since he had become co-CEO of rival studio DC with Peter Safran.

Bautista continued: “If James called me, which obviously is not gonna happen. He’s doing okay, he’s gone a different route [with DC].”

Even so, Bautista revealed he was desperate to play another role in either the MCU or the DC Universe (DCU) and had told Gunn and Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo about his interest in portraying a new character.

He explained: “But I do wanna be in that world. I'm a fan of that world. I'm a fan of comic books and that whole universe. Marvel, DC, I just wanna be in it. I made that known to James, I made that known to the Russo brothers ... Personally, I talked to them, all of them, and told them, ‘Don’t count me out. If there’s a character that I’d be right for and that you want me for, man, I'd be totally open-minded to it.”

Bautista admitted he felt a sense of “relief” that he would no longer have to play Drax following 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 as he felt he gave a “silly” performance as the character.

Speaking to GQ magazine in 2023, he said: “It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role. The makeup process was beating me down. And I just don't know if I want Drax to be my legacy – it’s a silly performance, and I want to do more dramatic stuff.”