Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will be missing a few key heroes, confirms James Gunn

James Gunn has revealed that not every member of the Guardians of the Galaxy will appear in the franchise's upcoming Christmas special. 

Disney Plus is set to release the TV movie, which is officially titled The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, later this year – presumably in December. As it stands, its line-up of characters is unclear, but we do know that the space-loving superheroes who do turn up in it will be spreading the festive cheer. 

Gearing fans up for the absences, though, Gunn took to Twitter to share a fan-made poster for the special, stating alongside it: "The above is not an official image. Not all of those characters are even in the Holiday special."

He also explained that its story will be set between the events of yet-to-be-released movies Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

"There will be a soundtrack yes, including original music," Gunn told a curious fan in the replies, before adding: "It's a TV Special (not a feature-length film) on Disney Plus. It's part of MCU canon, & contains some important new elements in the Guardians’ story."

The likes of Nebula, Gamora, or Star-Lord may not wind up being in it but Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will feature Cosmo the telepathic dog, and "one of the greatest MCU characters of all time". So far, there have been no clues as to who the big cameo will be from yet, though. It has also been confirmed that some of the action will take place on Earth, as Atlanta, Georgia – where they filmed Vol. 3 – masquerades as California's Beverly Hills.

While we wait for Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special to land on Disney Plus, check out our breakdown of the Marvel timeline to get you up to speed on the MCU.