Five years ago today, Eidos Montreal released Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, an action-adventure game based on the popular eponymous superhero team.
At the time, then-publisher Square Enix said it didn’t meet sales expectations, but it garnered a strong positive reception nonetheless, particularly its heartfelt, award-winning narrative, excellent performances, and catchy music. And in the months and years since launch, many more people have gone to bat for the Canadian game, especially ahead of its Nov. 5 Switch 2 “Encore Edition” launch.
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of this under-appreciated gem, MobileSyrup sat down with Jon McLaren, the Canadian actor behind Star-Lord himself. The Ottawa native gave insight into crafting an original take on the Guardians, favourite memories from the game, working with the talented folks at Eidos Montreal and the game’s enduring popularity.
I know as an actor, when you audition for things, you don’t always necessarily know what you’re auditioning for. And video games, especially, can be a whole ‘nother level of secretive. What do you recall, all those years ago, of that original audition and then eventually learning that you’re going to play Star-Lord?
Jon McLaren. (Image credit: Jon McLaren)
Jon McLaren: If you ever get the opportunity to work on a game, be prepared to sign your life away in NDAs and paperwork. [laughs] No, it’s not that bad. But you’re not wrong. The level of secrecy is crazy. [laughs] I remember, on that note, day one auditioning for the game back in the day. We got the sides, and this happens on most projects — they either won’t tell you what the project is, it’s usually codenamed. And with Guardians, specifically, when we got the sides, which are the pages of script that you audition with, they were all even codenames. So it didn’t say Star-Lord; it didn’t say Gamora, Groot… We all had different [names]. I think my character’s name was “Commander Jones.” Gamora was “Power Star.” “Silent Joe,” I think, was Groot. “Tough Guy” was Drax. What was Rocket? I can’t remember. It was literally something like “Steve.” [laughs]
Anyways, I got the sides and I’m reading through it and I noticed that “Quiet Joe” kept saying the same three words, and it wasn’t “I am Groot.” It was, “Celery is good,” over and over and over again. And I could just tell by the way in which Commander Jones, my character, was speaking, and then Tough Guy — I could just tell by the tone of the scenes, “Holy shit, I think this is Guardians!” I was freaking out and I just doubled down on that. And I prepared as if I was playing Star-Lord and what I thought my version of Star-Lord should be. And to this day, I feel so incredibly blessed. I booked it off a self-tape. I wasn’t even in person. I didn’t even have a callback. And I’m forever grateful to be a part of that game.
It’s a very secretive process. It’s a long process, video games. Unlike film and TV, where two weeks have gone by and you haven’t heard anything, then you probably haven’t got it. Whereas, I think, six to eight months went by [for Guardians], and I didn’t hear anything, and I completely let it go because you just have to do that as an actor. You audition and [move] onto the next. And then I got a call like six or eight months later, “Hey, they want to bring you in for a test shoot for the project.” I was like, “No way!” And then we went and we shot a test shoot, a proof of concept, and then crickets for another six months. And I’m like, “They didn’t like it!” But they did, and it’s just that these things take time. Games are completely different.
You and the rest of the cast and developers have talked very openly about how you didn’t want to do the movies again; it was your own distinct take on Guardians. And that was really exciting for me. The Guardians movies are actually my favourites in the whole MCU. Especially Quill’s story — I’m estranged from my dad, so his issues with his father, I really love that. But what I liked about in your game, it’s kind of the inverse arc, where the movie version is him from the perspective of being a son, but your game is him grappling with the idea of being a father himself. What were some of your favourite parts of getting to explore your distinct take on this character?
Image credit: Eidos Montreal
McLaren: Yeah, there’s a lot of themes in terms of family and what it means to be a family, and whether that’s blood-related family or the family which you choose, or the family in which you find [yourself], which is really special. And I just don’t think you can tell them as effectively, or as impactfully [sic] as you can in a [movie]. Guardians is roughly a 20-hour experience versus a two-hour film. You just don’t have the time in one medium to tell those kinds of longer, more impactful stories. I’m not saying you can’t in film, but it’s just different.
And one of my favourite things, what you said — it’s so special as an actor to hear that you, with the films, have this experience in your life with your father that you really related to, and it’s no different in the video game world. People have reached out and some of the favourite comments I’ve gotten are, “You really helped me through a difficult time with you know my family and dealing and grief and stuff like that.” I’ve had some incredibly kind people share some incredibly personal stories with me and how the game helped them to get through it.
[Some brief spoilers for late-game emotional scenes below.]
And so, to answer your question, one of my favourite scenes in the game is one you can almost completely miss with Drax at the Rift. It’s Drax opening up about the loss of his family and basically having a discussion about what happens after death and what that means, and it’s a really powerful, touching scene. And it’s crazy to me that you can actually completely miss it in the game, depending on what direction you head. Scenes like that.
There’s a really powerful scene with Nikki with the birthday cake. There’s the scene with Peter’s mom in The Promise, and Drax with his family in The Promise. And there’s all of these really powerful scenes that we were allowed to do, and we were allowed to make our own because they told us day one this is not the MCU Guardians, this is the “VCU,” we would jokingly call it. “Make it your own, and don’t be afraid to to hit those emotional notes and go far.” Every character of the main five has those moments. Rocket talking about his past, Gamora talking about her past as a child and what has happened to her and wanting to protect Nikki becomes very personal for her.
[Spoilers end.]
There’s a lot of jokes that really land and it’s hilarious and it’s fun, but then you get to travel to the other end of the emotional spectrum and there’s moments where, quite frankly… I remember playing it on Twitch when it first dropped, and I hit some of these scenes, and I’m like, “I know these scenes are in the game. I made the game!” And I’m still in tears as a player. To this day, it’s the best project I’ve ever worked on. I hold it in such high regard, and it’s so special to me.
You touched on it a little bit, but part of what I love about Guardians, and part of what I love about what your game did so well, is towing that line between the dramatic, emotional, serious moments, but then there’s also so much levity and a lot of fun there. Obviously, a lot of people love the running gag with the fridge. Is there a particular comedic beat or joke or quip that you particularly loved, either as Star Lord himself or even one of the other characters?
McLaren: It’s so hard, because it’s a game, if you haven’t played it, with multiple branching paths that you could choose, and with that becomes probably the most dialogue I’ve ever done in a project, and maybe ever will again. So it’s really hard for me to pinpoint one specific funny moment. But I can tell you, it was a dream to go into work every day because the laughing to the point of crying never stopped. It never stopped. And when you’re afforded the ability to try things and have fun with the script and push things as far as you can, you’re allowed to do some crazy, zany stuff.
[…] There’s a lot. I can remember we were shooting something. It was a scene where we were at a standstill, and then we were about to spring into action and run, and Gamora, Kim Sue-Murray, went first, and she tripped and fell flat on her face. Sorry, Kim, if you’re reading this! [laughs] She fell flat on her face, and the rest of us didn’t move. We stayed in character, and nobody helped her. Then Darryl [Purdy, cinematics director] said, “Cut!” And we immediately burst into tears. But there’s so many moments.
Another thing that the game did really well is there were around 30 songs on that soundtrack — a lot of ’70s and ’80s bangers. Did you have a favourite track from the game, and what is one that you would have personally added that wasn’t on it?
McLaren: Oh, man. Not on it? That’s tough. Virtually anything from AC/DC. Just put a bunch of that in. Favourite, I’m gonna go with Star-Lord Band. Just because I thought that was one of the most unique things that you hardly ever see in a game. Obviously, music composition in video games is such an incredibly huge deal, but a lot of times, it’s orchestral, it’s atmospheric, whereas we were given the green light to have Steve [Szczepkowski], who is the sound engineer on the game, and Yohann Boudreault as well — both who work at Eidos and have been playing in a band together since they were teenagers, I think, to create their own album. You don’t see that often, a fictional album for a game, specifically, so I’m completely in love with that album. It’s so good, and they are so incredible tracks. “The Darkness Inside” on that album, I think, was my favourite song on that album
Because it speaks to that darkness inside being the things you tell yourself, and it plays on mental health, and I’m a big advocate for that. And not listening to the darkness inside, and you can overcome it, and you can do anything in this life, and you can be a hero — it’s a really, really powerful song that really resonated with me as someone who has himself dealt with things like anxiety and, at times, depression. So that was the best song for me, hands-down, on the album. But there’s so many good ones. “Zero to Hero” is amazing, too.
Once the game came out, you were nominated for a BAFTA, which is awesome. I know you had done Far Cry 5 before that, but this was your first major role in a game, and you’re nominated for a BAFTA! What was your reaction to seeing that news?
McLaren: It was mind-blowing, and if I can be honest, I cried. It was very emotional. To be a passionate gamer for your entire life, to get to marry that passion with your passion of performance and being a creative and pouring your heart and soul and everything you have into a role, for Guardians, for close to four years… To go through the nerves of a game releasing and are people going to like it? Are they gonna like your performance? Are they gonna hate your performance? Are they gonna compare you to Chris Pratt? Which inevitably they would. To then getting such incredible feedback, not only from the community but then from the industry itself and getting one of the highest honours, a BAFTA nomination — my brain cannot compute. [laughs] I was just like, “What is happening?” It was just completely mind-blowing.
And to have the teams invite us out and take us out to the BAFTAs, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I got to meet a whole bunch of industry people, some of which I idolize and look up to myself. And to meet them and to talk video games and to be like, “Whoa, I’m actually doing what you’re doing,” is kind of insane. You won’t get this from reading the article, but I have a massive smile on my face right now. It’s still so special to me, and it will be for the rest of my life. It’s a career high.
You got to work with Eidos Montreal, which is an amazing studio. It’s unfortunate with Embracer and the economic climate that we’re in with the gaming industry, that studio has been through the ringer [with layoffs and cancellations], and many have moved on and done other things. Do you still have a lot of contact with those folks? How is that relationship still going?
Image credit: Eidos Montreal
McLaren: I do, yeah! Not with Eidos so much directly, but with some of the key people that were on the game. Simon [Habib] is a good, close friend of mine. He was the lead facial animator on Guardians. He’s since moved on to another company [2K Games]. But actually started our streaming journey on Twitch together, and he’s one of my mods, I’m one of his mods, so we’re in touch quite often. And we started our community together as well. We call it the “Ruffcut Collective” community, and so we’re in touch quite often. Both Alex and Kim live maybe 20 minutes maximum away from me. But yeah, we all still ping each other from time to time, and every now and then, we’ll get a bunch of the gang back together. And I talk to Darryl, the cinematics director, every now and then, and it’s nice. We try to stay in touch as much as possible.
But a lot of those guys have moved on to other companies. Mary DeMarle is another one. She was the narrative director on the game, and she’s moved on as well, but I talked to her. I think six months ago. [Ed. note: This interview was conducted prior to the news that BioWare, where DeMarle was working on the next Mass Effect game, was being shut down.] We try to. When you’re in something like that, and we still talk about it, even though we’ve all moved on to other projects — it was lightning in a bottle. It was a project that we all hold very near and dear to our hearts, above a lot of the other stuff, even now. When you have that, you build those relationships; they don’t just disappear.
On that note of that enduring legacy of the game… Something that I really love is that every time I see it mentioned, if there’s a Steam sale or whatever, there’s so many people talking about how good it is and that it was slept on. You don’t often see that, especially in the superhero space, which can be toxic. There’s just an overwhelming amount of love for this game. What’s it been like over the last five years to see more and more people come to this game and go to bat for it?
McLaren: It honestly means the world to me, and to us. It’s the pat on the shoulder that never ends. To have people reach out and say kind things or read comments on Steam or on Reddit or people begging for a second game. You couldn’t ask for anything more as an actor. You just want your projects to resonate with people and to have people really want more of it, it means the world. I hope with the Switch 2 release of the Encore Edition on November 5, I hope it just brings the game to a whole new audience. I hope people that have played it in the past and want to take it on the go, pick it up again, let’s just scream it from the rooftops, because man, I would love another game. That’d be so much fun to step back into those boots. It’d be so good. [laughs]
That was actually going to segue into my next question. It feels like we were robbed of more adventures with you guys. Assuming that, hypothetically, you got to return either in a proper sequel or even, with the Marvel universe, there’s so many crossovers — what would you hope to explore further with Star-Lord if you were able to come back in any capacity?
Image credit: Eidos Montreal
McLaren: Oh man, I don’t know! I’d like to see where the Guardians are. Like, literally, if they never stopped living since the game dropped, and it’s just like five, six years later, and where are they, and what’s that dynamic like? What have they done in those times? And of course, Star-Lord has to “flark” something up and release something upon the galaxy that’s going to destroy it. I don’t know! I’d love to maybe shake it up and make more of a GTA-style open space where it’s about getting those bounties for some greater good. I don’t know. I’m not a developer. [laughs] I’d love to explore more corners of the galaxy. It’s like Star Wars. What’s creeping around on this planet and what inhabits that planet? Are they good? Are they bad? Are they nice? Do they want to eat you? Do they want to clone you? Just more of that world would be the dream.
You mentioned you started the sort of Twitch journey with Simon and Guardians a number of years ago. But I’ve seen that you’ve kept going at it. Most recently, you’ve been playing Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. What inspired you to keep that going, and what is it about streaming that you enjoy?
McLaren: It’s just my love of gaming. I’m not joking. My very first console, and my first memory of gaming, was the original NES –and, more accurately, actually, my dad propped up on a chair playing the original Mario Brothers. I’ve played games my entire life. They’ve shaped who I am as a person, and I really do love gaming. It’s one of my favourite things to do, and when Guardians was releasing, it was a big release for me. I said, “You know what? I’ve been thinking about maybe streaming for a bit. This is the excuse I need to get my butt in gear and get some stuff together, and start streaming.” And I absolutely love it. And what I didn’t realize when I started streaming a few years ago, one of the added benefits was the community aspect. I had no idea how special the community would be, how much I would need the community, and how much I think some of the community needs me.
It’s a safe place for anyone from all over the world. We have people from Canada, the U.S., Germany, the U.K. I’ve had people from Slovakia. People from all over the world have come in, and hang out and speak, and they share the good, they share the bad, in their lives. It’s not really just about gaming. Every time I stream, I sit down at the beginning of every stream, and we call it coffee chat because I love coffee. [holds up a Tim Hortons cup and laughs] And I have a coffee, and we just sit there and we just we chat for like a solid hour usually before I even hop into gameplay. We talk about everything. It’s not just games. We talk movies, we talk TV. If somebody’s having a shitty day, we talk about that. If I’m having a shitty day, or if I’m frustrated with something, we share that, and it’s an unexpected joy, and I really love it.
And that’s why we call it the Ruffcut Collective. It’s not about a bunch of rough, tough people. It’s the opposite. It’s about, it’s okay to have rough days. It’s okay to be going through a rough time in your life because that’s normal and there’s nothing wrong with that. And it’s okay to have bad days. And when you do, hopefully you can swing by one of the streams, and hopefully, we can help you out and make things better, and you can have a few laughs — usually, at my expense when I die in video games. But that’s what it’s really all about. It’s just bringing amazing people from all around the world together to just share in life.
Having been ingrained in the Canadian arts scene for so many years and worked on not only on games but movies and TV — what is it about Canada that’s able to foster such a great art scene where we’re able to have a lot of world-class movies and TV shows and games like Guardians of the Galaxy?
Image credit: Eidos Montreal
McLaren: Talent. Talent, talent, talent. Sometimes, I fear people don’t really understand how talented Canadians are, and that’s not just in the creative side of things. Canada, as a whole, we have so many smart people, and so many smart people running companies of all various different degrees. But we’re very fortunate in the art side of things to have so many talented people. And just as a culture, we’re privy to all sorts of different artistic art forms. And growing up, I just so happened to fall in love with film and TV and storytelling. And then I thank my lucky stars every day that I got to tie that into video games.
And then, on top of that, there are a lot of things in place both from a union level and from a government level that make us an attractive country to come shoot massive projects again, like The Last of Us, or you know, The Reachers of the world, or Blue Bloods [spin-off from Boston Blue]. I’m on two shows right now with Great American Family [When Hope Calls and Crossroads Springs] that are American shows, and they shoot up here. It’s just a very attractive country. It’s a beautiful country. We have everything from beautiful mountains and right down to cityscapes that could look like any city in the world. And we’re just such a diverse country, in every sense of the word, from the people to the landscapes, that it’s just an attractive place to shoot, and we’re very lucky to have the projects that we have. It’s exciting. I love what I do.
This interview has been edited for language and clarity.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is now available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. The Switch 2 version, Encore Edition, launches on November 5 with new costumes and a new Star-Lord Band song. When Hope Calls and Crossroads Springs stream on Super Channel in Canada. McLaren will also be seen in an upcoming episode of Murdoch Mysteries.
Image credit: Eidos Montreal
Features 
Features 
Features 
Features 