Benicio Del Toro will not return in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'

Benicio Del Toro, aka The Collector, will not return in Marvel's upcoming sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Del Toro, who played the eccentric collector of alien artifacts in the original superhero film, spoke to ComingSoon.net about whether he would be reprising his role for Vol. 2, and his answer may be disappointing to fans.

“I don’t think so,” Del Toro said. “They would have told me, I hope...I do hope to play that character again at some point.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be released next summer, so the fact that Del Toro hasn't heard anything all but confirms he will not have any involvement this time around. Even if director James Gunn did want the character back, who knows if Del Toro would even have room in his schedule. The actor has a packed slate of films on the horizon, including a role in Star Wars: Episode VIII, which comes out the same month as the Guardians sequel.

Returning for the project will be Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista and director James Gunn. Kurt Russell is also rumored to play Star Lord's dad in the film, as we previously reported.