Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is currently without a director due to Disney firing James Gunn because of offensive tweets–and it won’t have the former showrunner of Daredevil as a replacement.
Steven S. DeKnight, the showrunner of Marvel’s Daredevil Season 1 on Netflix, took to social media to offer up he won’t direct Guardians of the Galaxy 3 if asked.
“I would politely decline. No way in hell I could come close to what James Gunn has accomplished,” Steven S. DeKnight tweeted, which was followed up by a subsequent tweet: “The other part of this story should be that no one at Marvel or Disney WOULD ever ask me that.”
Steven S. DeKnight then went on the offensive against a Twitter user who said Gunn got what he deserved.
“Usually I take a moment to engage people like you. But you don’t deserve my time. F-ck off,” he said.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
The status of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 seems to be currently up in the air as of right now.
It is known that prior to getting fired for tweets about rape and pedophilia, James Gunn did hand in a draft of the script, which reportedly Disney is going to use; however, the bigger question – aside from who will direct – is when will filming start and when will Guardians of the Galaxy 3 be released?
James Gunn did previously confirm the flick will be released in 2020, but Disney has yet to give it an official release date. It has also been said Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was supposed to start filming February 2019, but because of the Gunn controversy, it has been reported that Disney may delay the start of production. To add to that, when a new director does come on board, he / she may tweak the script, which could futher add to delays.
Steven S. DeKnight responding no to directing also brings up a good point in that what director would even want to replace and follow Gunn on the third film in the franchise? What James Gunn did with the Guardians of the Galaxy is rather unique, as he really didn’t base them on the comics, so in essence they are “his” characters and stories. It’s going to be a real chore for any director to follow what Gunn did.
The Guardians cast has also chimed in on James Gunn getting fired and wrote a letter supporting their director and asked Disney to rehire him (see below). Dave Bautista has been the most vocal member of the cast, even threatening to quit at times. It has been reported the cast is under contract and would face legal repercussions if they didn’t do the movie. Dave Bautista said if they don’t use James Gunn’s script for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 he wants out of his contract and Disney can recast his character of Drax. A most recent report stated Disney won’t be rehiring Gunn.
James Gunn has previously stated Guardians of the Galaxy 3 would be the last movie with the current iteration of the team and has said he was unsure if he would be directing another movie for Marvel Studios, but would remain on to spearhead a Marvel Cosmic Universe of movies. Now with Gunn out of the equation, it remains to be seen what happens with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Marvel’s Phase 4 plans that were said to go cosmic in a big way.
