With just days left before The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special arrives on Disney+, a new gallery of stills from the Marvel Studios Special Presentation have been released.
There's nothing too spoilery here, though we do get new looks at Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, Nebula, Kraglin, along with special guest stars The Old 97's and Kevin Bacon. THR asked James Gunn about including the actor in this Christmastime adventure, and while he was key to the idea, the filmmaker has known he wanted to do a holiday special for some time.
"When I was a kid, I loved the Star Wars Holiday Special, but I also loved Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," the director explains. "I still think [How the Grinch Stole Christmas!] is one of the greatest cartoons of all time. So the idea of doing a holiday special with the Guardians was both a really funny idea to me and also something I really wanted to do."
"And once I sat down and started trying to figure out what the story was, the Kevin Bacon idea came up very, very quickly, and I wrote the whole story within a few hours."
Had Bacon declined the chance to appear in the special, Gunn admits he's not sure who the Guardians would come to Earth to present to Peter Quill as a gift. "[He] was pretty young when he left Earth, so I’m not sure how much awareness he had. When I was eight, I knew who The Monkees were, but I don’t know who would’ve been famous in 1987 that Peter would’ve loved when he was still on Earth. MC Hammer, maybe."
Check out these new stills from The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special below.
In The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, the Guardians, who are on a mission to make Christmas unforgettable for Quill, head to Earth in search of the perfect present.
Marvel Studios' second Special Presentation stars Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, and features Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn, and The Old 97's, with Michael Rooker and Kevin Bacon.
James Gunn wrote and directed The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Gunn, Sara Smith and Simon Hatt, with David J. Grant and Lars P. Winther serving as co-producers.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special premieres on Disney+ this Friday, November 25.