Yesterday brought the genuinely shocking news that Marvel and Disney had rehired James Gunn to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, after the filmmaker – who had previously helmed the first two installments in the hit franchise – had been fired due to a Twitter storm over offensive past tweets last summer. Well, at least, that’s what we all thought had happened.
One report is now telling us that the situation wasn’t all it appeared to be. While writing up the news of Gunn’s reappointment, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that according to “insiders,” Disney never actually fired the director. Despite what we’d heard, there was never any real search for a replacement for Guardians 3 and in actual fact, the studio went back to Gunn following his dismissal to make a secret deal for him to return to helm the movie after a certain amount of time.
It definitely sounds like Gunn’s return to the franchise has been brewing for a while, too, as recent comments from the cast – such as Dave Bautista – suggest they knew what was up. The news that he was apparently never fully let go is hard to wrap our heads around, however, as director Adam McKay even said himself that he’d been approached by Marvel to take over Guardians 3 but declined out of respect for Gunn.
Taking THR’s report at face value, though, this secret deal must have allowed the director to go off to the Distinguished Competition to helm The Suicide Squad. Despite Guardians 3 being back on, Gunn’s set to write and direct the DC sequel for Warner Bros. before wrapping up the adventures of Star-Lord and co. Speaking of which, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was originally set to release in May 2020, but the earliest we’ll see it now is 2022. And once we have an exact date, we’ll be sure to let you know.