Phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is almost ending, but before that, Marvel is set to release the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. This television film is not exactly a sequel to the previous movies, for reason that The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 has been already announced as an upcoming Marvel film in 2023. Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will come to our screens on November 25th, 2022 and it will only be available on Disney+. The film will be directed by the veteran James Gunn, who is also the program creator. Gunn has also directed Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), and he will be also directing the third movie.
The Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the fans’ favorite groups in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and now they are coming back at Christmas time with this film. Marvel recently shared the official trailer titled “Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” through social media and the film instantly became a trending topic on Twitter. There are not plenty of details yet, but the Guardians of the Galaxy will go to Earth in order to find a great present for Quill (Chris Pratt).
Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Michael Rooker, and Zoe Saldaña are set to reprise their roles as Quill, Drax the Destroyer, Nebula, Mantis, Groot, Rocket, Kraglin Obfonteri, Yondu Udonta, and Gamora respectively. There are also two additions to the cast, Kevin Bacon who will play the role of a fictionalized version of himself, who is a hero to Quill and is constantly being pursued by the other Guardians, and Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the Spacedog, a sentient dog who is sent to space by the Soviet Union, this character was previously portrayed by a dog actor in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Vol. 2.
In this holiday special, the group organizes a party for Star-Lord or Quill in order to cheer him up after Gamora’s death in Avengers: Infinity War. If we rewind, the last movie premiered in 2017 and after that, films like Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder, and on those movies, especially the Avengers, many things happened that affected the Marvel Universe, and this holiday special film will be set after these events.
This Holiday Special of the Guardians of the Galaxy is a new project by Marvel, called “Marvel’s Special Presentation” which consists of television films. Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is the second one since the pioneer of this new format is Werewolf by Night which was released on October 7th, 2022, and it was well received by the critics.
Even though the film is not out yet, fans are excited about this sneak to peek so they do not need to wait so long for the Guardians of the Galaxy. A day before the announcement, Marvel also confirmed for 2023, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, the difference is that this holiday special will last less than an hour. Marvel is also working on Vision Quest which is a spin-off of the miniseries Wandavision that premiered in 2021.
The MCU has every intention of closing its fourth phase in the best way, premiering a special movie for fans to prepare for the fifth phase of the franchise. For all Marvel fans, remember the film premieres exclusively on Disney+ on November 25th and it is a telefilm canon for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film in the spring of 2023.
Andrea Rich
