<Li> Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta: A blue - skinned buccaneer of the Ravagers, who is a fatherly figure to Quill, and member of the Guardians . Yondu has a larger head fin in the film, to look closer to his comic counterpart, and Rooker worked with the prosthetic department to add gaps to his prosthetic teeth, "just like real teeth", to aid him in whistling as the character . Rooker explained that, for the sequel, Gunn "wanted people to experience more in - depth what Yondu was thinking and how he's feeling--a more serious Yondu ." Rooker noted the complex relationship between Yondu and Quill where "we don't agree on things...they are constantly at each other's throats (but) Yondu truly cares about this kid ." Gunn initially refused to end the film with Yondu dying, saying, "at the end of the day, I knew that's where it needed to go...This is a story about a father's love for his son, his ultimate love, so much love that he sacrifices himself for that, and that's what Yondu is . He is 100 percent Peter Quill's father" despite Ego being Quill's biological father . Before the release of Vol. 2, Rooker spent time on the set of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) to counteract rumors that the reason his character would not appear in that film was that he would die in this one . </Li> <Li> Karen Gillan as Nebula: An adopted daughter of Thanos who was raised with Gamora as sisters, and a reluctant member of the Guardians . Gillan stated the film would further explore the sisterly relationship between Nebula and Gamora, including their backstory "and what happened to these two girls growing up and actually how awful it was for them and how it's ruined their relationship", adding "we're (also) going to start to see how much pain (Thanos) actually caused (Nebula)... we really start to see the emotional crack in her character". While Gillan had to shave her head for the first film, she only had to shave half of her head for the sequel, taking away the underneath part and leaving the top . Gillan's makeup took two and a half hours to apply, down from five hours for the first film . </Li> <Li> Pom Klementieff as Mantis: A member of the Guardians with empathic powers who lives with Ego . Executive producer Jonathan Schwartz said the character "has never really experienced social interaction", and learns about "social intricacies" from the other Guardians . Klementieff added, "She was really lonely and by herself, so it's a completely new thing to meet these people and to discover new things", comparing this to a child making awkward mistakes in social situations . Mantis and Drax have an "interesting" relationship in the film due to both being "complete odd balls". Steve Englehart, Mantis's co-creator, was disappointed with the character's portrayal, saying, "That character has nothing to do with Mantis...I really don't know why you would take a character who is as distinctive as Mantis is and do a completely different character and still call her Mantis ." </Li> <Li> Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha: The golden High Priestess and the leader of the Sovereign people, a genetically engineered race who are "gold and perfect and wanting to be physically and mentally impeccable ." Gunn was "very specific" when writing the character, and after casting director Sarah Finn suggested Debicki, Gunn "knew right away that she was the one". Gunn highlighted the actress's beauty and 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) height . Debicki wore platform shoes to increase her height to 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m). </Li>

Mantis in guardians of the galaxy 2 cast