Disney Reinstates James Gunn As Director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

Well that was unexpected. Eight months after firing him over tweets he made a decade ago joking about pedophila and rape, Disney has decided to reinstate James Gunn as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 according to Deadline. This comes after prior reports stated that they would still be using the director’s script for the film, even after he moved on to do The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros.

Gunn was initially fired after alt-right journalists made the tweets public. There were multiple meetings with Gunn and Walt Disney Studios president Alan Horn before his firing. However, after Gunn’s public apology and how he handled the situation after he was dismissed, Horn decided to change his mind and hire him back for the project. The cast of the film previously defended Gunn over the tweets, which he made over a decade ago and reportedly were made as distasteful jokes, not reflective of any actual viewpoints he held.

Marvel Studios has also agreed to wait to begin production on Guardians after Warner and DC finish production of The Suicide Squad. They have not met or considered any other director for the third film, even though there were rumors that both Taika Waititi and Adam McKay were in talks. Marvel has remained silent on the project and instead focused on other films like Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. The script for Guardians has already been completed, so it seems that production won’t take long to get going once Gunn finishes his commitment to Warner Bros. Gunn will likely confirm the news when he promotes the film Brightburn, which he produced.