In April, Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn revealed that the film’s sequel would be a “story about fathers,” presumably meaning that it will at least elaborate on the many references the original movie made to the parentage of Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill. The end of the first movie explained that his dad was a member of an unknown alien race, was “a jackass,” and was responsible for Quill being abducted as a child, but nothing else about his identity has been confirmed just yet. According to a report from The Wrap, though, we might be able to add that Quill’s father looks badass with an eyepatch to that list, because Kurt Russell is reportedly in talks to play him.
No offers have been officially made yet, Russell hasn’t read the script, and it sounds like no real meetings have happened, but both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter also back up this story and claim that Russell is in talks to play Quill’s dad. In addition to that, Variety interestingly adds that it is “unknown whether the character will be someone of major significance in the Marvel universe,” which brings up the question of who exactly Quill’s dad will be. In the comics, he’s a space-king named J’Son Of Spartax who is a pretty big asshole, and he definitely lines up with the clues given in the first movie. However, Gunn gave an interview to Empire last year in which he said that Quill’s father is “definitely not the character who it is in the comics,” so that doesn’t give us much to go on.
There are some other possible candidates from throughout the Marvel universe, but Variety’s suggestion that the character might not be someone “of major significance” means it’s possible that he’s not someone famous like Adam Warlock, or Quasar, or Richard Rider. He could just be some random alien dude who looks like Kurt Russell. On the other hand, Gunn could’ve been lying and he really is J’Son Of Spartax, which would actually make the most sense (even if it’s a little boring).