The official soundtrack for the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is available today on streaming platforms. To celebrate, director James Gunn unveiled the original Christmas-themed single he wrote with the band Old 97’s. Using his Twitter account, Gunn also revealed the Old 97’s play a unique role in the Holiday Special, acting as an alien band trying to figure out what Christmas means.
While promoting the Holiday Special’s soundtrack, Gunn revealed he invited Old 97’s singer Rhett Miller to help him write “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here).” The song imagines a group of aliens trying to figure out what the holiday means to earthlings according to the stories they hear. Of course, that causes some hilarious distortions, as the aliens believe Santa Claus is a master bugler, has superpowers, and takes revenge on people who don’t offer him cookies. They are not too far from the truth, actually.
In his tweet, Gunn also revealed that at some point in the Holiday Special development, he realized the Old 97’s themselves could play the part of the alien band in the movie. As Gunn puts it, he simply said to Miller one day, “What the heck, why don’t you and the Old 97’s play the band?!” Gunn’s tweet is accompanied by a picture of the Old 97’s wearing their alien make-up and prosthetics, and it’s easy to understand how the band’s presence represented “some of the most fun days on set ever” for Gunn.
What Is ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’ About?
Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, had a rough couple of years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. First, in Avengers: Infinity War, Peter loses the woman he loved after Gamorra (Zoe Saldana) is sacrificed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in exchange for the Soul Stone. Peter spent five years dead after Thanos’ Snap. Still, when he came back, he had to face a Gamorra Variant from a different timeline, who not only didn’t want to hang out with the Guardians but seemed disgusted at the idea of having anything to do with Peter. So, to cheer Peter up, his fellow Guardians will bring him to Earth to celebrate Christmas.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special also stars Dave Bautista as Drax, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Vin Diesel as Groot’s voice. The Holiday Special also promises to introduce new characters to the MCU, including Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s Maria Bakalova as the voice of Cosmo, the space dog. Finally, Kevin Bacon is playing himself in the MCU special.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will be released on Disney+ on November 25. Check out Gunn’s original tweet and the Holiday Special’s trailer below.
