I Am Groot Producer Confirms if Guardians of the Galaxy Series Is MCU Canon

In just a matter of hours, all five episodes of I Am Groot will 
drop on Disney+, giving fans a glimpse of what the eponymous tree alien was up to during his youngest years. While Guardians of the Galaxy helmer James Gunn insists the five short films, totaling roughly 25 minutes in runtime in all, are not in the same continuity as the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios Animation boss Brad Winderbaum suggests that's simply not the case.

In fact, the longtime Marvel producer says the shorts take place immediately following Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

"It's a narrow window, right? It takes place between the end of Guardians 2 and before the tag scene in Guardians 2," Winderbaum says. "So it's in this narrow window where Groot is in that kind of post-toddler stage of development. And it was something that really excited, James, and James also knew Kirsten [Lepore]'s work and was excited about working with her as well."

Lepore, the director behind the project, adds she consulted with Gunn throughout the entire production process.

"Yeah, I had great meetings with James at several points in the process. And the most pivotal one being our initial kickoff meeting, where we basically just discussed this amazing character that he created just to make sure we could do baby Groot the way we're supposed to," she says.

Lepore concludes, "And I remember him telling me like, oh yeah, he's a bad baby. And also he's like an emoji guy, which cracked me up. And I kept repeating that in meetings. I was like, we gotta make sure that we're just nailing these poses and facial expressions because you know, all he has is two eyes and a mouth. He doesn't even have a nose, it's a very limited face. So it's like just like an emoji, nail an emotion and expression."

All five short films from I Am Groot arrive on Disney+ on August 10.

What other Marvel characters would you like to see get the animated treatment? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!