Fired Guardians Of The Galaxy Director James Gunn Won't Be Rehired--Report

Disney's decision to fire James Gunn from the Marvel sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 led to a joint-statement from the cast, in which they offered the writer/director their support. There had been some subsequent speculation that Disney might rehire Gunn, but a new report states that he is very unlikely to return to the movie.

According to Variety, the studio is "currently not planning" to rehire Gunn. The site spoke to "multiple people familiar with the studio's current thinking," and says that, despite the support from the cast of Guardians movies, the tweets that ultimately led to his dismissal remain totally at odds with Disney's family-friendly image.

Despite the strongly worded statement, there is no suggestion that any of the cast, which includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel, will quit the series as a result. They are all under multi-film contracts, and while the movie was expected to start production in February 2019 ahead of a 2020 release, it had not officially been given a release date as yet.

The tweets that led to Gunn's dismissal date back almost a decade, and saw the director joking about topics like pedophilia and rape. They resurfaced online via conservative website The Daily Caller, and Disney was quick to sever ties with him. In a statement, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said, "The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him."

Gunn offered a subsequent statement in which he took responsibility for the tweets and accepted Disney's decision. "My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative," his statement read. "I have regretted them for many years since--not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.

"Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse."