When we heard yesterday that "The Walking Dead's" Michael Rooker was interested in playing Rocket Raccoon in the James Gunn-directed "Guardians of the Galaxy" for Marvel Studios, we couldn't resist bringing up the topic during "The Walking Dead's" red carpet premiere in Los Angeles last night. While Rooker's comments hadn't been entirely serious, our question about his potential involvement caused him to burst out laughing and ask where we heard the news.

Apparently the actor hadn't realized that the Internet exploded in excitement at the idea of him re-teaming with his "Slither" and "Super" director. And while nothing is set in stone, Rooker reiterated that he would love to take a role in "Guardians."

Will Michael Rooker make the leap from redneck zombie killer to space-faring raccoon?

"Of course I would, are you serious? God, I'd love to," he told CBR. "You know what, I've already done two projects with James Gunn and it's an awesome project, so who would not want to be a part of that?"

Rooker said that he and Gunn have stayed friends and "get together all the time," which was confirmed when the director showed up at "The Walking Dead's" premiere after party with his girlfriend, hanging out with Rooker until they left. We're crossing our fingers that the topic of Rooker playing Rocket Raccoon came up at least once.

The role wouldn't be much of a stretch for the actor as he spent a lot of time in a motion capture suit for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2." Rooker was clearly excited about the upcoming video game when we talked to him on the red carpet.

"My new game comes out -- it's not my game, it's 'Black Ops 2' -- so I got a pretty cool role in that. I play Mike Harper in the game, and it comes out November 13," he said. "It's going to be awesome. It's really complicated and amazing. Amazing. I worked on that for about 10 months."

Officially announced in July at Comic-Con International, "Guardians of the Galaxy" is reportedly "about a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants." Although the Guardians have boasted a large and changing roster over the past four decades, the concept art Marvel debuted at CCI features Rocket Raccoon; Drax the Destroyer, the human resurrected in the body of an alien to combat Thanos; Groot, the extraterrestrial tree monster; Star-Lord, the interplanetary police officer; and Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the universe.

Part of Marvel's second wave of films, "Guardians of the Galaxy" is set to open Aug. 1, 2014.