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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is on hold as Marvel Studios and Disney look for a new director to take over for James Gunn, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter the “timeline has been pushed out” following Gunn’s firing. Pre-production on the movie was supposed to being this fall, and crew members hired for certain positions have reportedly been let go. Production was scheduled to begin this winter, but sources told the Reporter it’s unlikely that will happen.
Gunn was fired in late July after prominent far-right bloggers and personalities resurfaced offensive and questionable tweets, some a decade old, from Gunn’s history. Gunn reportedly met with Disney chairman Alan Horn and Marvel Studios co-president Kevin Feige to discuss returning for the final installment, but Horn didn’t budge.
Gunn’s firing drew concerns from many of the actors involved in the film, including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Dave Bautista. Bautista, who plays Drax in the series, said publicly that he’s looking into ways to get out of his contract because of Disney’s decision to fire Gunn.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was supposed to be released in 2020, but that release date will probably move due to these circumstances. Polygon has reached out to Disney and Marvel Studios for comment.
