The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is now streaming on Disney+, and even though the 45-minute Special Presentation is pretty much a standalone story about Drax and Mantis heading to Earth to "persuade" Kevin Bacon to present himself as a gift for Star-Lord, it does lay the groundwork for the upcoming GOTG Vol. 3 in a few significant ways.
Spoilers ahead!
In the special, we catch up with the Guardians in their new base of operations, Knowhere, and learn that crew has an adorable new member in Cosmo the Spacedog. We also find out that Peter Quill and Mantis are actually brother and sister, as both were fathered by the villainous Ego.
While these may not seem like particularly major revelations on their own, they were clearly important enough for writer/director James Gunn to establish in this special before Vol. 3 hits theaters.
“I don’t have to talk about where they got (the new Guardians HQ) Nowhere from, or Cosmo being around Nowhere,” Gunn tells Deadline. “I think you see what Nebula’s role is in the group now: She’s a leader to some degree. We see all these changes since we’ve seen them last.”
Vol. 3 is shaping up to be an altogether more dramatic adventure for our intergalactic A-holes, as Gunn once again reiterates. “(Volume 3) has a lot of heaviness in it,” he adds. “So shooting that for a few days, and then shooting this goofy thing — these were like my recess days.”
“It’s about this family of rejects who have found each other, and have come to love each other, and together with the support of each other, maybe come to accept who they are because they all hate themselves, and that’s really what this journey is about.”
Have you guys watched the GOTG Holiday Special yet? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and check out a new poster below.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.