James Gunn On Why Ego The Living Planet Is At The Center Of Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2.

News broke yesterday at the Marvel Studios' panel that Kurt Russell had been confirmed as Ego the Living Planet in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In the world of talking tree-like beings, gun-slinging raccoons, and alien bounty hunters, a sentient planet still seems like a far-fetched concept. So why put Ego in the movie, much less have Ego as Star-Lord's (Chris Pratt) father? Director James Gunn responded with a Facebook post explaining his motivations behind the seemingly odd choice.

"Yeah, his dad is a planet. Sort of. It will all be explained in the film," Gunn started. "But to me, this is the absolute center of Vol. 2, and one of the reasons I've been so excited about it."

"Okay, if a raccoon could talk, and shoot a machine gun, how could that be? And answering that question ended up being the entire foundation of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. There was a sadness in the answer," he explained. Gunn talked a little bit about the relationship between Rocket and Groot and how they were both misfits and that Rocket found a friendship with Groot that might have been his first and only friend in the entire galaxy.

"This melancholy and beautiful undercurrent helped to ground the character for me. He had far more in common with Frankenstein's monster than he did Bugs Bunny. And I related to him, greatly, and I hoped other folks who felt like outsiders would as well. Ego seemed, in many ways, like an even more ridiculous character," Gunn continued. He went on to say that he asked himself how could a planet be alive and even being able to sire a child. His answers took him to a "far deeper place than he expected".

Gunn summed up his explanation with how it's still been quite the experience working with Russell and bringing Ego to life with him.

"We have both pushed ourselves as far as we can go in making him real, and grounded, and emotionally centered."

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Glenn Close, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, and Kurt Russell.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes out May 5, 2017.