Guardians Of The Galaxy's holiday special will be required viewing before Vol. 3

James Gunn’s awaited Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is coming in May of 2023, but while we wait for it to arrive, Marvel Studios is giving us The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special which is heading to Disney+ in December 2022. We know by now that Marvel shows on Disney+ are canon, but how much can a holiday special really be tied to the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise? Well, according to Gunn, it’s a pretty important part of the story.

“It’s in-canon, it’s about the Guardians, you’re gonna learn stuff that you need to learn before Volume 3, and it’s great I’m really happy with it,” says Gunn to Collider. The director also says that he’ll film the special at the same time as the third movie. “You know, I’m using a lot of the same sets, same actors, obviously. So, we’re filming simultaneously with the film but it’s going to have to be edited way sooner. But it’s not long—not too long, since it’s a Christmas special,” he explains.” As for its length, Gunn says it’s “definitely not an hour, it’s under 40 minutes.”

In true MCU fashion, we have absolutely no idea what’s coming in the special; what we do know is that the main cast will be part of it. However, filming hasn’t even begun yet. According to Collider, production for both Guardians Vol. 3 and the holiday special starts in November.

And while Gunn’s been busy working on superhero movies—including The Suicide Squad, coming out on August 6—he seems ready to be done with them. In a recent interview with The Irish Times, he says, “We know about the way cowboy films went, and the way war films went. I don’t know, I think you don’t have to be a genius to put two and two together and see that there’s a cycle to those sorts of films, and that the only hope for the future of the comic book and superhero films is to change them up. They’re really dumb. And they’re mostly boring for me right now.”