James Gunn’s working relationship with Disney has certainly been through a lot of ups and downs. First, the company fired him from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after his controversial tweets from several years back resurfaced. Then, it refused to hire him back even after an outcry from both fans and actors of the films. Afterward, despite Gunn’s job termination, his script was going to be used for the movie. And now, he is returning to his former role.
Disney’s announcement that it has rehired James Gunn to both write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been a shocking one for fans across the world, and the director later confirmed it himself on his Twitter.
In the tweet, Gunn thanks everyone for their support over the past few months, and says that he strongly appreciates the decision from Disney and is “excited to continue”.
Gunn was fired from Disney last July when controversial tweets he made years ago in which he joked about rape and pedophilia resurfaced. Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios stated back then that Gunn’s “offensive attitudes and statements” were “indefensible”, and thus the company decided to end its business relationship with him.
In the aftermath, several Guardians of the Galaxy stars spoke up to voice their support for Gunn, the most vocal of whom was Dave Bautista who portrays Drax the Destroyer. The entire cast even wrote a passionate letter to defense Gunn. Horn and Gunn then went on to meet multiple times to discuss the latter’s role, and apparently the chairman was persuaded by Gunn's public apology.
Meanwhile, Gunn has stayed busy, producing the horror movie Brightburn that is scheduled to come out in May. Moreover, he is also going to write and direct a sequel to DC's 2016 film Suicide Squad.
This is huge news for Marvel fans, as both Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 were massive hits. The first movie raked in $773 million, whereas that number for its sequel is $863 million. That said, with the production of Suicide Squad 2 planned to begin later this year, it’s probably going to be at least 2022 before we see Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3.