Zoe Saldaña Details Her 'Very Sweet Departure' from 'Guardians of the Galaxy' : 'I Had an Evolution'

Zoe Saldaña's final turn playing Gamora in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a bittersweet experience.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Saldaña, 44, said she does not know what is in store for the character after the next Guardians installment, noting that Gamora "has taken a different journey" than the rest of the team's members.

"Filming started bitter in the beginning 'cause obviously you're anticipating the end," Saldana said. "But I'm just so happy that once again I got to work with great people. I had an evolution that I witnessed of myself, but also my director and my cast. I just felt very blessed and grateful."

"It was a very sweet departure, I have to say," she added.

During the interview, Zaldana also reminisced about the Avengers: Endgame moment in which Gamora and the MCU's women characters band together during the climactic fight with Thanos (Josh Brolin).

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"Obviously we knew it was going to be special and we were feeling ourselves every time the Russos would say 'action,' " Zaldana told EW. "But what I can remember — and these are the nuggets of life that make me feel so human and keep me grounded — is that we were just complaining about how uncomfortable our costumes were, our makeup, our wigs, how cold the set was."

"But we were just being girls, going together, acting tough, and that to me was also very special," she said.

The upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and the 2023 feature film installment are set to be the final appearances of writer and director Gunn's space-faring MCU series.

In May, Gunn announced that filming for the third movie had wrapped in an Instagram post, in which he was seen laughing as he sat next to the cast, including Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Gunn's brother Sean Gunn, Karen Gillan and Dave Bautista.

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"And that's a picture wrap on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy," he wrote at the time. "I love this amazing cast & crew & their beautiful talent & kind souls. I'm a lucky human to have them on the journey with me for nearly a decade."

Earlier this year, James appeared on Deadline's Hero Nation podcast and confirmed that the third movie, due in theaters May 5, 2023, will be "the last time people will see this team of Guardians."

"It's so, so big and dark, and different from what people might be expecting it to be," Gunn said at the time. "I just want to be true to the characters, the story and give people the wrap-up that they deserve for the story."