James Gunn Claims His New Marvel Project Is The Best Thing He’s Ever Made
The best? That's a big claim!
This article is more than 2 years old
With 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn took some of Marvel’s lesser-known properties and turned them into household names. With this year’s premiere of the Peacemaker show, he took an obscure and, let’s face it, ridiculous DC Comics anti-hero and built a hit series around him. With 2021’s The Suicide Squad he–well, he made people actually want to see a Suicide Squad movie which is a victory in and of itself. He got canceled and then, miraculously, got himself un-canceled. In spite of all of those achievements, the writer/director is saying that his next Marvel project is better than anything else he’s ever done. Is he talking about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Nope. A new movie or series that’s been kept under wraps until now? Nope. According to Gunn, the best thing he’s ever done is the upcoming The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
In an interview published today by Radio Times, James Gunn said, “The Holiday Special is the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” He didn’t give any more specifics than he has previously, but he added, “It’s totally ridiculous, and every day we can’t believe that we’re making it. We all completely love it. It is unlike anything that anyone’s ever seen before. I can’t wait for people to see it.”
Thankfully, James Gunn didn’t mention any delays for the project. There was some concern about the special back in January. The director said that the plan had always been to film The Holiday Special in the middle of filming Guardians Vol. 3. Unfortunately, a day of filming slotted for the special had to be canceled because of the Covid-19 Omicron variant. With Gunn now speaking confidently about the special, it’s safe to assume he and the rest of the cast and crew have found a way to fit it in the schedule.
When The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was first announced in 2020, Gunn took to Twitter and confessed he’d been talking to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about the concept for years. Apparently, once he got the go-ahead, it didn’t take James Gunn long to write it at all. He actually confessed to feeling jealous of himself because of the responses he was getting to the special. “Because people freak out so much on how much they love the script for the holiday special,” Gunn said, “that I’m almost like, ‘Well, wait. I’ve got [Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3] I’ve been working on for two years. You love the holiday special that I literally wrote in a very short amount of time.’”
One interesting aspect of the special is who will be in it or — more to the point — who won’t be kept out of it. According to Marvel’s official announcement regarding The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Zoe Saldana will appear as Gamora. This, in spite of Gamora dying in Avengers: Infinity War and the Gamora of 2014 being separated from the Guardians in Avengers: Endgame. James Gunn has said the special will be canon and that it takes place between this year’s Thor: Love and Thunder — in which the Guardians make an appearance — and next year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. So, either Gamora will be reunited with the Guardians in Thor: Love and Thunder, or something interesting (perhaps a flashback?) will be happening in The Holiday Special.
