The MCU will be releasing the first holiday special with the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The Guardians are back once again with James Gunn firmly at the helm as he brings to life his dream project at the studio. The director tweeted about how he loved the Star Wars Holiday Special in the past and how he had been itching to do one of his own. It turns out though that’s not the only thing he wanted to do with the members of Guardians of the Galaxy.
A theory posted to Murphy’s Multiverse suggests that the upcoming special actually combines two of Gunn’s great desires for the group together, as Gunn had also put forward the idea to Marvel to do a Drax and Mantis spin-off. When Mantis was first introduced in 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 it was clear that actress Pom Klementieff (Mantis) and Dave Bautista (Drax) had great chemistry together. Bautista thought so too, speaking to Collider Extra back in 2020, he discussed how he would be up for his own spin-off, but that a series may be a little taxing.
“I wouldn’t do a series because Drax as a series would be really rough with the make-up and everything, it would just be too tough. What I would like to do is, honestly, and this is not my idea, I’m stealing this idea, James Gunn had the idea to do a Drax/Mantis movie, and that’s what I’d be up for because there’s just too much fun there.”
Gunn later confirmed this in a since-deleted tweet, saying “True. But this was never ruled out. I still think this could be amazing.” Though it would seem the idea went nowhere for a while, with Bautista talking to DigitalSpy a year later about it.
“There were talks for a while about a Drax and Mantis film. It was really because it was James Gunn’s idea. He really wanted to do a Drax and Mantis film. He laid it out to me. I thought it was such a brilliant idea, but I haven’t heard any follow-up from the studio. I don’t think they’re very interested, or it doesn’t fit into the way they have things mapped out.”
Marvel already had a lot on its plate with its new Marvel/Disney series getting underway on top of its cinematic offerings as well. However, only nine months after both Gunn and Bautista had voiced their desire for a spin-off, another Guardians of the Galaxy project was unveiled, and Gunn had finally gotten his holiday special. Having watched the recent trailer we can see that, though all the Guardians appear in it, the focus does seem to be on Drax and Mantis as they attempt to kidnap Kevin Bacon in order to cheer up a depressed Peter Quill.
It would appear that Marvel has repurposed the Drax/Mantis pitch and allowed it to merge into the holiday special, combining two of Gunn’s desires at once. Now whether Gunn wrote the script, which was finished some time ago, to deliberately see more of the duo together or whether it came about organically is not fully known. Regardless, the director seems to be overjoyed with the result telling Radio Times back in March,
“The Holiday Special is the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life. 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. And it’s out pretty soon. You know, it’s out this Christmas. It’s not like people have to wait that long.”
We don’t have long to wait at all, and fans will be thrilled to see the comedic duo get more time together on screen. The holiday special will be released exactly one month prior to Christmas day, on Nov. 25 on Disney Plus.