[Update: We’ve added Gunn’s statement on Disney’s decision at the bottom of the article.]
In a genuinely shocking move, Disney has decided to reinstateJames Gunnas the writer-director ofGuardians of the Galaxy 3. Gunnwas firedoff of the film last year after old, poor-taste pedophile jokes of his resurfaced online. Gunn immediately apologized, owned up to his mistakes, and explained how much he’d grown as a person since he posted those jokes years prior, but Disney CEOBob Igerand PresidentAlan Hornmade the decision to remove Gunn from the director’s chair onGuardians 3, which had planned to start filming in early 2019.
Per Deadline, Horn and Gunn continued to meet on multiple occasions after his firing, and persuaded by Gunn’s apology and how he handled the situation (he never seemed sour and stated that he understood Disney’s decision when he was removed), Horn has decided to reverse course and reinstate Gunn as the director ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Which now poses a huge scheduling problem.
In the wake of Gunn’s firing, theSlitherfilmmaker was snatched up by Warner Bros. and set to write and possibly direct their DC ComicsSuicide Squadsequel. Gunn crafted a script everyone was happy about posthaste, and that film—titledThe Suicide Squad—is now due to begin filming this fall.
However, Disney is understanding, and both Disney and Marvel Studios have agreed to postpone filming onGuardians of the Galaxy 3until after Gunn completesThe Suicide Squadfor Warner Bros./DC. If this isn’t unprecedented, I’ll be very surprised. We’ve seen actors switch between Marvel and DC before—evenThoractorIdris Elbais now in talksto replaceWill SmithinThe Suicide Squad—but never a writer-director. Gunn will now have the pleasure of writing and directing a weird DC superhero team-up movie before moving on to writing and directing a weird Marvel superhero team-up movie.
With this agreement, that meansGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3probably won’t start filming until late 2020 at the very earliest, so I wouldn’t expect the film in theaters before 2022. But even those dates are fluid, asChris Pratt’s schedule continues to fill up and he’s gotJurassic World 3to start shooting later this year. The important thing is that whenever cameras roll, Gunn will be there.
Deadline says Marvel never met with any other directors forGuardians 3, so perhaps Marvel headKevin Feigewas hoping this thing would work out in due time. Indeed, the resurfacing of Gunn’s old tweets were promoted via right wing media, no doubt in direct response to Gunn’s constant and vocal criticism of the Trump Administration and the GOP in general. So much of the “outrage” over said tweets was the very definition ofa bad faith argument.
Through this all, Gunn had already completed his script forGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which he intended to conclude his trilogy of films with this particular team. Marvel maintainedthey would use Gunn’s scripteven if he didn’t direct, but it’s now very nice to know the filmmaker will be back behind the camera as the writer-director of this entire trilogy.
