Kumail Nanjiani almost had a role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 before joining Marvel’s Eternals. Nanjiani, best known for projects like Silicon Valley and The Big Sick, is part of the stacked ensemble that makes up Chloe Zhao’s Eternals. The latest Marvel movie arrived in theaters last weekend and introduced audiences to the titular cosmic team. Nanjiani plays Kingo, the vainest Eternal who has spent his time on Earth building up a Bollywood acting career.

Just as Eternals makes its way out into the world, another Marvel movie takes its first steps into production. At long last, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 started production this week, well ahead of its May 2023 release date. Director James Gunn is back on board after briefly being fired from the project, and he’ll be joined by his usual Guardians cast. Newcomers to the MCU include Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Peacemaker actor Chukwudi Iwuji.

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It turns out there was once a time when they would’ve been joined by Nanjiani. In an interview with Screen Rant, Eternals co-writer Kaz Firpo revealed Nanjiani was always the first pick for the part of Kingo, but he almost wasn’t cast because he had a role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. However, Firpo claimed scheduling changes allowed for Nanjiani to board Eternals. He said:

Kaz Firpo: There’s one very concrete thing that literally did happen because of this, and we are allowed to talk about this I’m pretty sure! The short version, really, is that we were in the room, in this windowless room writing nine drafts of the movie, and we just knew from the beginning that Kumail Nanjiani was Kingo, that was his voice – Ryan and I are big fans, Ryan had watched every season of Silicon Valley.

And we were really writing this character for him, and when we brought it to [producer Nate Moore] and the powers-that-be at Marvel, they were like, “We love Kumail, but actually he’s in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, James Gunn wrote a role for him.” And we were like, “Oh, it’s such a bummer, he’s perfect for this role, it’s so good,” and they were like, “James wins, it’s James Gunn.”

And then we were literally in the office when everything went down, with that delay… I mean, I think it started filming yesterday. But yeah, the whole delay happened with Guardians, which miraculously opened the door for Kumail to step into our film, so I think that’s just one of those meant-to-be moments. I’m a little disappointed about the delay personally, as a fan, but as a filmmaker, I’m very grateful, because I think no one could’ve pulled it off quite like Kumail.

Gunn soon took to social media to confirm a portion of this story. Yes, Nanjiani nearly had a part in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but Gunn described it as “a cameo.” He then shared that Marvel boss Kevin Feige reached out to say there was talk of hiring Nanjiani for Eternals, and in response, he “said of course I’d rather see him do that than my bit.” According to Gunn, the change wasn’t due to scheduling.

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Though a Kumail Nanjiani cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be great fun, it’s fair to say that a full-fledged role in Eternals is much better. Nanjiani got the chance to bring some South Asian representation to the MCU, and he was cited in many reviews as one of the highlights of the film. Eternals only just scratched the surface of who Kingo is as a person, and hopefully, future MCU installments will allow Nanjiani the chance to explore him on a deeper level.

Now one has to wonder if Gunn will find someone else to fill in Nanjiani’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameo or if he merely got rid of the character in question. His likely final Guardians movie is being hyped as an emotional conclusion for the ragtag group, and for that reason, it stands as one of the most anticipated movies of the MCU. That, and Adam Warlock’s exciting introduction. There’s much to look forward to with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, though a Nanjiani cameo sadly isn’t part of it.

Source: Screen Rant, James Gunn

Key Release Dates
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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