Exclusive: Linda Cardellini Is In Guardians Of The Galaxy 3, Character Revealed
Linda Cardellini will voice Lylla the sentient otter in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
Update: This Giant Freakin Robot exclusive scoop was confirmed. Linda Cardellini appears in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, where she voices the character Lylla, an otter who is one of Rocket Raccoon’s friends from his past
Linda Cardellini will be voicing a new character in the upcoming Marvel Studios movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, which will make her one of the rare actors to play multiple roles in the MCU. According to our trusted and proven sources, the Freaks and Geeks star will voice Lylla, the sentient otter-like alien girlfriend to the Guardians’ own Rocket (Bradley Cooper). The character was briefly seen in a trailer for the final movie featuring the spacegoing superhero team, but little is known about her so far.
The trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 revealed a heartfelt reunion between the raccoon-like Rocket and the otter-like Lylla, with the implication that both characters were the creations of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a sadistic alien scientist obsessed with “perfecting” living beings. At least in Rocket’s case, that means loading down an adorable baby raccoon with some serious emotional and physical scars, so we will have to see whether that will be the same for Linda Cardellini’s Lylla.
As with most characters in the MCU, Linda Cardellini’s new role as Lylla has a basis in the original Marvel Comics. Much like the comics version of Rocket, Lylla is from a planet named Halfworld, which is essentially a giant mental institution staffed by sentient animals with big laser guns. No matter how weird the MCU gets, Marvel Comics will always be weirder.
Prior to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Linda Cardellini portrayed Laura Barton in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Endgame, and the Disney+ series Hawkeye. While the character was introduced primarily as the wife of Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), it was eventually revealed that she was also previously an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Still, it is fair to say that she is a comparatively minor character within the MCU, so it’s nice to see Linda Cardellini pop up elsewhere.
It probably helps that Linda Cardellini has an in with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 director James Gunn, who she previously worked with for his 2010 Rainn Wilson-Kevin Bacon movie Super. Gunn seems to have a fondness for working with the same collaborators repeatedly (particularly if they are named Sean Gunn or Michael Rooker), so it is no surprise that she would show up in another project of his.
This also raises the possibility that Linda Cardellini might appear in the rebooted DC Universe, which is currently being overhauled by James Gunn. It would also make her one of the few people to appear in multiple roles in DC movies (and maybe the only one to have done so in Marvel and DC); she previously voiced Nasthalthia Luthor in the animated feature film adaptation of the acclaimed All-Star Superman.
Given that Gunn has referenced All-Star Superman as one of the inspirations for his upcoming Superman: Legacy, could we be seeing Linda Cardellini there? If the DCU is currently casting for a new Lois Lane, it could certainly do much worse.
