Disney Rehires James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3

Deadline is reporting that Disney has reinstated James Gunn as the writer and director of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3.

According to the report, Alan Horn, the president of Walt Disney Studios, met with Gunn several times after he was removed as writer and director of the upcoming film. (Gunn was fired after some decade-old Tweets making light of pedophilia and rape were brought to light.) Horn, who was involved in Gunn’s firing last summer, was persuaded to change his mind after seeing his public apology and subsequent handling of the situation. But it probably didn’t hurt that Gunn’s cast and peers were vocal online and in interviews defending the director.

At the time of his firing, Gunn had finished writing Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 and the movie was well into development. As you might expect, his firing left some questions; however, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was adamant that they would still use the completed script. And even though other directors were rumored to replace him, nobody was ever hired. People even started to wonder if the movie would even still be made. With this report though, we learn that the decision to bring Gunn back was made months ago. I guess all of those rumors were actually just rumors.

Of course, nothing is ever easy. During his time away from the MCU, Gunn signed on to write and direct the Suicide Squad sequel for DC and Warner Bros. Production is scheduled to begin this year, and Marvel has agreed to let him complete his work with DC before returning to the Guardians franchise.

Honestly, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me. I understand why he was fired, but there was a lot of backlash over the decision. Disney was essentially in a no-win situation and I’m okay with them bringing Gunn back. (I think the Tweets that got him fired were disgusting and neither funny nor appropriate in any situation.) What do you think though? Did Disney make the right decision to bring him back to direct the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie? Let us know in the comments!