Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is taking its sweet time in getting here, but the good news is that it’ll be accompanied by a festive TV special when it does finally arrive. Last December, Marvel announced that The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special would be shot alongside the threequel and stream on Disney Plus in time for Christmas 2022. It’ll star the main cast from the movies and is written and directed by James Gunn, so this is an authentic chapter of the cosmic saga.
Obviously, with Gunn refusing to reveal much about Vol. 3 despite fans asking him about it all the time on social media, he’s likewise remaining quiet about the Holiday Special. Mostly, that is.
You see, one fan managed to get a new factoid out of the filmmaker recently. Gunn kicked things off by sharing the first page of his completed script for the special, which prompted someone to ask him to clarify when it would be set. “So this is based after Thor 4 but before Guardians 3 right?” they asked. Gunn confirmed that with a one word response, saying: “Yes.”
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1385278183784652800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Remember, we’ll next see Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and his pals in Thor: Love and Thunder, where they’ll again be hanging around with the Asgardian following Avengers: Endgame. Vol. 3 is expected to be a proper conclusion to the team’s storyline, so it makes sense that The Holiday Special isn’t set after that. It adds up that it takes place in between the two films, then, just as it will be released after LaT but before Vol. 3.
The show’s title obviously apes the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, but I think we can safely trust Gunn to turn in something of a higher quality than that iconic train wreck. That said, he may find a way to call back to it, as Mark Hamill might’ve just hinted that he could be involved with the Marvel production on Twitter. But we’ll have to see about that.
What we do know is that both the threequel and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will start shooting at long last sometime later this year.