'The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special' Features Kevin Bacon Meeting the Guardians

It's good to be James Gunn. Today Marvel Studios unveiled the official trailer for the next Marvel Studios Special Presentation, "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special." The special debuts next month on Disney+ and features the Guardians meeting Star-Lord's longtime idol, the one, and only, Kevin Bacon.

And yeah, it's the real Kevin Bacon ("Footloose," "The Following") appearing in the special. You can check out the official trailer right here:

https://youtu.be/OYhFFQl4fLs

While Marvel's upcoming sequel, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," will be the last movie of Marvel's Phase 4, technically "The Guardians of the Galaxy holiday Special" will officially close out the latest phase of the MCU.

In the new special, the Guardians are on a mission to give the forlorn Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), an unforgettable Christmas season. It looks like Quill is still mourning the loss of Gamora. As a result, it looks like Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) take a trip to Los Angeles on Earth to find Kevin Bacon to deliver to Quill as a Christmas present. Of course, it looks like high jinks will ensue.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1584981979715768320

Filmmaker Gunn also confirmed on his Twitter following the trailer release that when he teased that the special would debut his new favorite MCU character, he confirmed that character is in fact Bacon. Of course, Bacon is in the film as the real-life movie "Footloose," starring Bacon, is Peter Quill's favorite movie in the MCU.

The special presentation also stars Karen Gillan as Nebula, Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin. Also, Marvel says Michael Rooker will be making an appearance, presumably as Yondu. It's not clear in what capacity Rooker will be appearing as Yondu, especially considering his fate in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" released in 2017.

Longtime "Guardians" filmmaker Gunn wrote and directed the holiday special, which is executive produced by Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brand Winderbaum, Gunn, Sara Smith, and Simon Hatt. David J. Grant and Lars P. Winther are the co-producers of the project.

After the upcoming holiday special, the Guardians will reunite for one last theatrical adventure in May 2023 for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." In light of recent events, this will likely be Gunn's last time directing for Marvel Studios for the foreseeable future, and it will also be the final adventure for the current version of the Guardians.

In "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," the guardians face a new villain in the High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji (who recently starred in DC's "Peacemaker" for Gunn) who joins the cast. Quill is still reeling from Gamora's loss and has to rally his team to defend the universe and protect one of their own. If the mission fails, it could lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

"The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" debuts on Disney+ on November 25. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" will hit theaters on May 5, 2023.