Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still just under a year away, but we have already seen some sneak peeks about what to expect from the third and final movie to feature this Guardians team under the direction of James Gunn. While the Guardians of the Galaxy began their MCU journey as a largely independent movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with many of its connections to the Infinity Saga coming in foreshadowing of things to come, the group led by Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill aka Star Lord have become firm fan favorites and that means their next movie is not only one of the most anticipated movies of 2023, but also a sad send off for the familiar team. Part of the fun this time around is Cosmo the Space Dog, a character voiced by Maria Bakalova, who recently reflected on her upcoming role.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3’s exact plotline is being kept under wraps for now, but some details have been slowly filtering out in casting information and comments from Gunn and others. As well as the introduction of Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, Guardians 3 will also feature Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the Space Dog, a canine character who will be familiar to those who are fans of Marvel comics. While Bakalova has obviously not provided a lot of information about how the character figures in the plot, she had plenty of praise for the MCU and its filmmakers, and gave away just a small detail about her time working on the movie. She told Discussing Film:

“Yes, I was in mo-cap. I think that’s the only thing I can share so far… it’s been amazing. I’ve been a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside being a fan of Dogme 95, the movement created by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Yes, they are two completely different things, but equally important to me. So having the chance to join the family of Marvel and especially the Guardians of the Galaxy, which was my first love in the MCU, was a dream come true. I love seeing all the people excited for Vol. 3, the fans have been so welcoming and warm. It’s truly precious and reminds you why you’re actually doing this kind of work, to make people feel something. I think that’s the biggest gift.”

Cosmo the Space Dog Is Another Motion Caption MCU Addition

     Marvel Studios/Disney

Although there are plenty of practical effects used within the MCU filmmaking process, especially when it comes to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, there are also a fair number of characters that would just not be possible without the use of motion capture and CGI. Guardians already has Rocket and Groot, who are both rendered via the process, and although Cosmo joins these and other characters such as Howard the Duck, Bakalova was clearly part of the entire process unlike say Vin Diesel, who provides the voice performance of Groot but not the actions.

The advances in CGI animation when it comes to animals has been huge in the last decade, leading to the creation of photorealistic animals appearing more and more in movies like The Jungle Book and The Lion King. It looks like a Cosmo is going to be another hit side character in the MCU and considering how excited Bakalova is about the role, it is likely that enthusiasm will be seen in the performance when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 is released in May 2023.