James Gunn Reveals the Star-Lord Love Interest Who Was Cut From 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

Simara Dixon, as the Star-Lord lady friend who didn’t make the movie

Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the summer’s biggest hits and director James Gunn is helping keep the buzz alive by releasing behind-the-scenes factoids and photos from the Marvel blockbuster on Instagram. Predictably, fans are freaking out.

Gunn’s latest revelation: Peter “Star-Lord” Quill (played by Chris Pratt) flirted — twice — with a fetching blue-skinned alien, the second time while attempting to elude capture during the battle at the mall with Rocket and Groot. But the footage was cut from the film’s theatrical release.

In the caption from Tuesday, Gunn explains that the blue-hued beauty was played by model and actress Simara Dixon. While she didn’t end up on screen, Gunn writes that Dixon played a key role in the film because “she was one of the models we experimented with different alien skin tones on and she was the first one I felt like we nailed it on — that her blue skin looked like blue skin up close and not like face paint.”

Gunn goes on to say that in a film where actors and extras were every color under the sun, green turned out to be the toughest color to get right. Which is a bummer, considering Gamora, played by Zoë Saldana, was as green as grass. Also a bummer: That Dixon’s part was cut for pacing concerns. On that point, Gunn writes, “There’s always the possibility she can reappear in a future Marvel film!” Given that the Guardians sequel is already set for 2017, here’s hoping she gets a return engagement.

Director James Gunn with actor Spencer Wilding

Dixon’s role wasn’t the only sacrifice Gunn had to make in the editing bay. In an earlier Instagram post, he discusses a sequence in which actor Spencer Wilding, who played the guard who nails Quill with the electric rod in the prison scene, gets his groove on and dances while listening to the Pilot song “Magic” on Quill’s beloved Walkman. The scene was snipped, but Gunn calls it “awesome and hilarious” — so much so that Wilding was rewarded with a small container of Play-Doh for his efforts. (Play-Doh was Gunn’s treat of choice.) Was the GotG scene worth saving? Gunn writes that it will be on the Blu-ray extras so fans can see for themselves soon enough.

Watch a clip of James Gunn talking about his writing process for Guardians: