James Gunn Says Baby Groot Is Actually Groot's Son

Forget everything you think you know about Baby Groot except that he's adorable. You can hang onto that.

Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn confirmed on Twitter that the original Groot, the one who sacrificed himself at the end of the first movie, is dead. Gunn said that Baby Groot, who sprouted from a piece of the first Groot's body that Rocket planted, is actually Groot's son. 

It's been widely believed (but never explicitly stated in the films) that Baby Groot is a reborn version of the original. However, the new Groot is apparently a different character entirely. To be fair, the resemblance between father and son is uncanny, they have the same name, and Vin Diesel provides the voices for both.

It all started on Twitter during a debate about who to save between Groot and the Porgs from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. When one fan pointed out that Groot can grow back after he's killed, Gunn stepped in to clarify. "First Groot is dead. Baby Groot is his son," he said.

Of course, Gunn said something similar almost half a year ago. He spelled the whole thing out in a Facebook post. 

"Although I don't necessarily think it's obvious in Vol. 1, it's important to say that if you exploded and a little glob of you started growing into a baby, I would not assume that baby was you. I do think it's more obvious in Vol. 2, as Baby Groot has a different personality than Groot, none of his memories, and is much, much dumber."

It all actually fits with Gunn's stance against resurrecting deceased characters. He opened up about it during a Facebook Live session (via /Film) back in September. "I think it's very important that in these movies, there are stakes within the films. I am not into this old-school way of doing things, where you kill characters and you bring them back and then you kill them again and then you bring them back and their deaths mean nothing."

As we saw during a post-credits scene for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Baby Groot is growing at a rapid rate, and he'll be in an older teenage form when Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4. It makes us wonder if anyone has had a talk with him about his dad yet.