James Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy superhero movies and the new Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special has explained the big Groot change. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday special is a short comedy TV special on streaming service Disney Plus.
It follows Drax and Mantis as they travel to Earth in order to find and capture Kevin Bacon to turn him into a living Christmas present for Peter Quill who is still mourning the loss of Gamora. After trying to navigate their way around modern-day earth, they eventually find the movie star and bring him to Quill on the planet Knowhere.
Amid all the action, audiences also get their most recent look at Groot. Previously seen as a young (and surly) teen in Avengers Infinity War and Thor 4, in the Holiday Special Groot seems to have grown substantially. He is both taller, bulkier, and seems more mature too.
Now, on Twitter, Gunn has confirmed some of the details about this new version of Groot, as well as how that’s impacted his personality. Responding to a fan on Twitter, who had asked a question about the tree-like alien, Gunn said “Well, YA Groot, or Swoll Groot, as we call him, is getting bigger, outward as well as upward. As you can see by now he has a different, stockier physiology (and a more outgoing personality) than his father did.”
So, it’s clear that when this Groot grows up he’s going to be very different to the Groot we saw in the first Guardians of the Galaxy action comedy movie. By the sounds of things, he will be different physically (with a broader build) and in terms of personality, by being more outgoing.
Plenty of fans will have assumed that the new Groot would grow up top be the exact same as the old one. Technically, after all, he is a clone. However, Gunn makes it clear that that’s definitely not the case. For more from the Guardians, check out our guide to the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 release date.