In a rare turn, director James Gunn is once again heading up up the third installment of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy series. Gunn, who directed the previous two films, was fired over the summer when offensive tweets dating from between 2008 and 2011 resurfaced after being promoted by right-wing personalities like Jack Posobiec and Mike Cernovich.
The news comes courtesy of Deadline, who has since confirmed things with both Marvel and Gunn’s representatives. Gunn addressed the firing on Twitter in July, apologizing for “shocking jokes” and noting that he “viewed [himself] as a provocateur” at the time, but had since changed his ways. Gunn appears to have stopped tweeting altogether since that apology thread.
1. Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018
Marvel/Disney parted ways with Gunn, but reportedly never chose a successor the project. The director, meanwhile, agreed to take on the second Suicide Squad film for DC/Warner. He will return to production on the new Guardians after completing the sequel to that less critically beloved series.
While the content of Gunn’s off-color jokes have been roundly denounced from both sides of the political spectrum, Guardians cast members including Chris Pratt, Zoey Saldana, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper penned an open letter asking the studio to reinstate him for the third film.
