James Gunn explains how The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special sets up the events of Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 3. Releasing November 25 on Disney+, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special serves as the titular ragtag space crew's next appearance since Thor: Love and Thunder and their last before Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 3 caps off Gunn's trilogy in May 2023. As revealed by the trailer, the holiday special finds Peter Quill grieving Gamora as the Guardians visit Earth to give him the best Christmas gift he could hope for by kidnapping the legendary Kevin Bacon.

During a recent interview with ComicBook, Gunn discussed how the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will bridge the narrative gap between their previous appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 3. The writer-director called the holiday special a "Trojan Horse" which allowed him to introduce elements important to Vol. 3 that he wouldn't have to explain in the third film. Read what Gunn said below:

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. So where you get to learn all that, 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 Volume 3, so I don't have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of that movie explaining it.

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What The Holiday Special Means For Vol. 3

Dave Bautista as Drax and Pom Klementieff as Mantis leaning on each other in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

Gunn lists a few important ways the holiday special will set up Vol. 3 by filling in the Guardians' recent history. This includes inhabiting Knowhere, the giant severed head of an ancient celestial now being used as a spaceport. After the Milano and the Benatar, the Guardians now have a new spaceship called the Bowie, named after the late great David Bowie. This continues Star-Lord's tradition of naming his spacecraft after pop culture figures, the first named after Peter's old crush, actress Alyssa Milano, and the second from another musical legend, Pat Benatar.

In the holiday special, the Guardians will welcome an exciting new member to their crew – Cosmo the Spacedog. The sentient canine with telekinetic powers previously appeared in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, but is now voiced by Borat 2's breakout star Maria Bakalova. The holiday special also features the return of all the core Guardians crew played by Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Michael Rooker, and Zoe Saldaña.

Gunn has said the holiday special serves as an epilogue to the MCU's Phase Four. In a sense, it is also a prologue for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which will be Gunn and Bautista's last film in the series and a farewell to the Guardians in their current form. Other than being a fun Christmas romp, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will serve as an important stepping stone for the crew's last ride together in Vol. 3.

More: GOTG Vol. 3 Will Struggle To Deliver On James Gunn's Biggest Promise

Source: ComicBook

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