Another day, another development in the curious case of James Gunn's firing. On the heels of a united cast statement in support of reinstating Gunn from Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy core cast, Deadline reports that Marvel Studios is also backing. Per the report, Marvel and Disney are having behind-the-scenes conversations and that Marvel is trying to persuade the folks at Disney to bring Gunn back into the fold for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Disney fired Gunn last month after a series of old offensive tweets were dug up online by alt-right personalities. Since then, the entire Guardians cast has come together in support of the filmmaker, with Dave Bautista going as far as asking to be released from his contract in the circumstance that they don’t use Gunn’s script. Yesterday, we learned that Disney indeed plans to use Gunn’s script, even if he isn’t brought back as director, though the studio is in the midst of complicated exit negotiations.
According to Deadline, the latest conversations opened up after the cast letter but previous reports about the unlikelihood of Gunn’s rehiring mostly remain true at this point. The report notes that there’s “no clash or strong arming” between parties at the studios and that Marvel’s “11th hour approach” to rescue their franchise is a long shot.
It's not at all surprising that there would be pushback from Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel, considering Gunn is the creative mind behind one of their most successful franchises -- not to mention one that was set as a touchstone to transition audiences into the otherwise mysterious Phase 4. Even if Marvel doesn't get their man back, it looks like Gunn's career is going to be just fine. A recent report from THR noted that rival studios are eager to work with the filmmaker once the negotiations over his exit from Disney are resolved.
Stay tuned to for what develops next, and for all the latest on Gunn's Disney departure, check out the links below.
- Disney Reportedly Plans on Using James Gunn’s ‘Guardians 3’ Script
- Dave Bautista Wants out of His ‘Guardians 3’ Contract If Disney Scraps James Gunn’s Script
- Disney Unlikely to Rehire James Gunn for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Despite Cast’s Support
- ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Cast Releases Statement in Support of James Gunn
- With James Gunn’s Firing, Disney Destroyed the Message of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’