The Guardians of the Galaxy have been known to face great threats – power-hungry tyrants, living planets… that kind of thing – but they’ve never faced a challenge quite like this.
Ever since July 23rd, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been a rudderless ship, cast astray in a sea of obscurity and conflicting reports.
One thing’s for sure: James Gunn won’t be returning at the helm, which means Disney and Marvel Studios is currently casting the net in search of a replacement. Not that they’re in any particular hurry, mind you, as the current status of Vol. 3 may have a knock-on effect on the so-far untitled Avengers 4.
That’s because the cosmic threequel is now on “permanent hold,” according to Dave Bautista, who offered a brief status report to Digital Spy about the current situation.
It’s kind of a strange situation to be in now where we’ve lost our director for Guardians. Guardians 3 is really up in the air and I don’t know what they’re going to do with it. It’s on permanent hold for now, and that may make a difference in what they do with our characters in Avengers 4. To be honest with you, right now I really don’t know.
Given he’s been the most outspoken member of the Guardians cast (by quite some distance), it’s clear Bautista is none too pleased about Disney’s final decision to sever ties with James Gunn. His core screenplay remains intact, mind you, as does the general outline for Awesome Mix Vol. 3, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Disney is taking time to regroup before moving forward with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
As such, it seems that tentative May 2020 release window is as good as gone…