Christmas means bacon… Kevin Bacon, that is, in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
Updated 21/11/22: With its release imminent, James Gunn has been discussing the forthcoming Disney+ ‘Special Presentation’.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, the director talks about how the characters have moved on since their last appearance and that the special allows the subsequent movie to hit the ground running:
“You’re obviously gonna learn a lot about where the Guardians have been in the past few years. You know, you’re gonna see how they now inhabit Knowhere.
They’ve got a new ship called the Bowie. They’ve got a dog [who] is part of their crew now who has telekinesis named Cosmo… and then there’s a couple of bigger pieces of spoiler-y lore.
You’re gonna learn all of those things. In a way, the ‘Holiday Special’ was a Trojan Horse for me to sneak in stuff that becomes important in ‘Vol. 3,’ so I don’t have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of that movie explaining it.”
He also explains how the special’s production, which took place at the same time as the movie, benefitted from the big screen outing’s budget:
We were able to utilize those sets that we had the money to build for Vol. 3, in the special. We otherwise wouldn’t have had that type of money to build these million-dollar sets.”
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special arrives on Disney+ this Friday, November 25th.
Original article follows…
Marvel drops a trailer for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
With their third (and final) movie slated for next year, the MCU has lined up a festive treat – The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
Of course, there’s a fine tradition of holiday specials – Star Wars we’re looking at you – but this one is apparently canon. Billed as a Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation, it fills the gap between the crew’s last appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder and The Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 in May 2023.
With Peter brooding over Gamora, the crew decide to get him a very special present. What could engender more festive cheer than a visit from the his beloved Kevin Bacon, star of Footloose?
In addition to Kevin Bacon, the whole (surviving) crew are back. So that’s Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Dave Bautista (Drax) Karen Gillan (Nebula), Sean Gunn (Kraglin) and Pom Klementieff (Mantis). Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel also return to voice Rocket and Groot respectively. Plus, we’ll get to hear Maria Bakalova playing Cosmo the Space Dog.
While you might imagine a festive special to be essentially throwaway, director James Gunn has emphasised the short film’s importance. Responding to twitter questions, Gunn has insisted it’s a must-watch saying “There’s a lot of big information in there.”
For those keen to track such matters, it’s also confirmed that the special serves as the epilogue to the MCU’s Phase 4.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special streams on Disney+ from November 25th 2022.