Sorry, Marvel fans, but it doesn’t appear like Disney is going to backtrack and rehire James Gunn.
It’s been a roller coaster ride since Disney decided to dismiss the “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” director due to some unsavory tweets that were dug up from almost a decade ago by an apparent right-wing group of trolls. We’ve had numerous people voice their support for the ousted director, much to the dismay of Roseanne Barr, and there was even a petition to re-hire the director that has received hundreds of thousands of online signatures.
But alas, it appears that’s all for naught.
While many people assumed that Disney wouldn’t bring back Gunn, for fear of them drawing even more attention to the situation, there was a brief glimmer of hope. After the entire cast of the film signed an open letter of support for Gunn, and effectively also endorsing his rehire, there were rumors and speculation that Bob Iger and the folks at the Mouse House might actually sit with the director to figure things out.
However, according to Variety, bringing back the dismissed director isn’t currently on the schedule. The report says that, surprisingly, Disney wasn’t aware of his history of lewd and offensive jokes from almost a decade ago, even though by all accounts, Gunn has never shied from discussing them openly. And Variety continues to say that the studio is even willing to sit on the third ‘Guardians’ film until the “right A-list filmmaker” comes along.
Does that mean the film won’t start filming in the first part of 2019, as anticipated? The report says that since Disney hasn’t officially announced the threequel’s release date, the studio doesn’t feel the pressure to hurry up and hire a replacement. They’re even willing to push back the production until a quality replacement is found.
And lastly, the biggest reason that Disney doesn’t feel the pressure to bring back Gunn is the fact that it is believed that the cast, regardless of their apparent disapproval of the move, will report for the sequel when it’s a time, due to existing contracts.
As for the replacements that Disney is currently eyes, Variety says the fan-favorites Taika Waititi, Jon Favreau, and the Russo Brothers are not in the running, due to prior obligations. And instead, the studio is going to look outside the Marvel family for a new director.
All that being said, it doesn’t sound like the incoming director will have an easy go of it, due to the intense fan support of Gunn and the way he’s put his mark on the franchise. Inevitably, we may be looking at a Ron Howard situation, for better or worse.