The never-before-seen character, played by Pom Klementieff, is featured alongside familiar faces including Drax, Groot, Yondu, Star-Lord, Rocket, Nebula and Gamora.
- July 15, 2016
AceShowbiz -
Meet the new alien in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"! As filming on the movie was recently wrapped, a glimpse of the never-before-seen character Mantis is revealed via an official concept art that is debuted on EW.
Mantis is played by Pom Klementieff, who previously starred in Spike Lee's "Oldboy". In the explosive image, she stands alongside the returning characters namely Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Yondu (Michael Rooker), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana).
Exclusive first look at concept art for #GotGVol2, featuring new alien Mantis! https://t.co/D1er0819c3 pic.twitter.com/NBciApdf8R
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) July 15, 2016
"She has never really experienced social interaction," executive producer Jonathan Schwartz says of Mantis. "Everything she learns about dealing with people, she learns from the Guardians of the Galaxy, which is a very weird group to learn your social intricacies from."
While we have met Groot in the first film, the younger Groot in the sequel may not be the same person that we knew. "He doesn't have the wisdom and experience of that Groot," Schwartz explains. "He's a younger Groot and a more rambunctious Groot. The question is, is he the same Groot, just smaller? Or is he a different Groot that's sprung up from the seed of the first Groot?"
The concept art, drawn by Andy Park, will be distributed to fans attending the San Diego Comic-Con International, which runs July 21-24.
The movie, directed by James Gunn, will open in theaters across the nation on May 5, 2017. Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan and Tommy Flanagan are among new cast members, and Sylvester Stallone is reported to make appearance.
