Sean Gunn, who did the on-set performance capture for Rocket Raccoon, a character voiced by Bradley Cooper, in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, has announced that he’s “Retired” from doing so for all future Guardians of the Galaxy or MCU projects. Sean Gunn made the announcement in an interview on The Brandon Davis Show, where he largely blamed his age and the physical demands of performance-capturing a character with such small proportions. Gunn said in the interview,

Since I turned 50 a couple of years ago, I am retired from playing Rocket. Not that they’ve called. But if they did, I don’t think that I could do the motion reference anymore for Rocket. I think I’m too old.

Sean Gunn then continued, saying:

Everyone thinks it’s my knees, but it’s really my feet and my ankles. I’m in a catcher’s crouch, and I’m pivoting a lot on my points of contact with the ground. I’m doing a lot of pivoting in my ankles and feet. And over the years, I think it had a little bit of an effect on my physiology.

In addition, the actor said doing the performance capture for Rocket “hurts after a while.” Sean Gunn is the brother of Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and often collaborates with him, playing several roles throughout his brother’s filmography. In addition to doing the performance capture for Rocket, Sean Gunn also played Kraglin Obfonteri in several Guardians of the Galaxy and MCU projects.

Sean Gunn continues to collaborate with his brother, who is now co-CEO of DC Studios, playing Maxwell Lord in several DCU projects, starting with Superman (2025).