With the latest Marvel Studios effort premiering on Disney Plus tomorrow, James Gunn has decided to throw a spanner in the works with his shock admission that he doesn’t view the new series as part of MCU canon. Shortly following the Guardians of the Galaxy’s brief return in Thor: Love and Thunder, I Am Groot is set to serve as a throwback to Baby Groot, and reveal what the infantilized sequoia got up to away from the rest of the gang.
While we already guessed the CG-animated miniseries would be a standalone entry in the franchise, as it doesn’t take place in the current timeline, Gunn has gone ahead and made clear that he doesn’t consider it a canonical part of the MCU at all. Twice over, in fact. First of all, the filmmaker responded to an Instagram comment from a fan, “They are special shorts and not canon to the Guardians saga.”
This obviously caught fans off-guard, so when Gunn hosted a Q&A on Instagram later on, someone took the opportunity to ask him to clarify his comment. The writer/director admitted that this is only his personal view, and it’s a matter of disagreement between him and other studio execs. “Some folks at Marvel seem to think it’s canonically MCU. I find that hard to see myself.”
One of those folks at Marvel is producer Brad Winterbaum, who has specified that I Am Groot takes place in between the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and the sequel’s post-credits scene, which aged Groot up to adolescence. So it sounds like fans can take the show as canon if they want, although given that Gunn is the custodian of the Guardians, no doubt many will take his word on it.
All five shorts comprising I Am Groot‘s first season – another is on the way – land on Disney Plus this Wednesday.