The theatrical release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is only a little over a week away, and after that tearjerker of a teaser clip, MCU fans are more than ready for May 5 to roll around. The clip showed us a rare glimpse into Rocket’s tragic past, where the beloved raccoon was locked in a cage while chatting with three other animal friends about a more hopeful future. Rocket and his friends decide to name themselves after the otter of the group chooses to give herself the name Lylla and, for those with a good ear (and knowledge of other MCU projects), Lylla’s voice may have sounded familiar.
While we only know pieces of Rocket’s backstory, MCU fans know it’s not a happy one and despite the hopeful words of Rocket and his friends, this clip only reinforces that. We hope we’ll get to see Rocket’s other animal companions in the present and see if any have realized their dreams, but we do know Lylla will be making an appearance based on an earlier trailer. The otter only appears about 10 times in the comics, but Lylla is a close friend (and sometimes love interest) of Rocket’s. In her original appearance, she was the heir of toy conglomerate Mayhem Mekaniks and fell in love with Rocket when he helped her squash a hostile takeover of her company. Given the film shows them in the same caged facility as part of Rocket’s backstory, it seems Lylla’s going to have slightly different origins.
It’s only fitting this cool new character would be voiced by an MCU veteran and James Gunn confirmed actress Linda Cardellini is voicing Lylla. In the MCU, Cardellini is known for playing Laura Barton, Hawkeye’s wife, in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Endgame, and in the Disney Plus show Hawkeye; however, Cardellini has an extensive resume filled with cool projects outside of the MCU. Cardellini got her big break in the short-lived NBC series Freaks & Geeks as Lindsay Weir and then went on to play Velma in the live-action films Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (which were both coincidentally penned by Gunn). In 2003, Cardellini was cast in the role of Nurse Samantha Taggart in the hospital drama ER and continued to work in big projects like Legally Blonde, Brokeback Mountain, and Mad Men.
This won’t be her first time voice acting either; Cardellini was notably the voice of Wendy in the Disney animated series Gravity Falls and also had main voice roles in the video game Gladius and the show The Goode Family. With the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 plot seemingly revolving around Rocket, we anticipate we’re going to hear a lot of Lylla in this final installment in the trilogy.