It's been common knowledge for quite some time now that the 2014 mega hit that was Guardians of the Galaxy would be getting a sequel. But with the 2017 release date getting closer and closer fans must have been worrying when they were going to hear some news about filming getting under way. 

Director James Gunn had been teasing images of the cast in rehearsals for the past few weeks but finally today we've gotten the announcement that filming is officially under way. Of course with this being the second most anticipated Marvel movie on the horizon (slightly behind Captain America: Civil War) it wouldn't be enough to send out a mere press release. They needed to send out a teaser image to accompany it. 'Teaser' being the operative word. 

"I am Baby Groot"?

So it looks like everybody's favourite tree (sorry Treebeard) won't be returning to his former glorious height any time soon but that ain't such a big deal when you've got Brax The Destroyer to hitch a ride on. Marvel are being very coy when it comes to plot details except to say that: "Set to the all-new sonic backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” continues the team’s adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage."

So nothing we didn't really know before then. The image and 'plot detail' comes along with a casting announcement to say that Karen Gillian, Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn will also be reprising their roles in the sequel alongside our heroes. Joining the cast are Pom Klementieff (Oldboy), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby), Chris Sullivan (The Knick) and Kurt Russell. There's no word on what roles the new cast members will be playing but it wouldn't exactly be a wild guess to suspect that Kurt Russell could be playing Peter Quill (Chris Pratt)'s dad. 

Sadly there's no mention of Josh Brolin or Benicio Del Toro which would suggest there'll be no sighting of either Thanos or the mysterious 'Collector' in the sequel. Though we'd be fairly confident the former will pop up in a post credits sting at the very least to lead into the Avengers: Infinity Wars movies.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will hit our screens in May 2017.