
Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn has been rehired by Walt Disney Films to direct the third installment of the series. Gunn had been fired by Disney after his old controversial tweets about child abuse had resurfaced on the internet a while ago.
While Disney and Marvel are yet to give an official statement on the same, Gunn took to Twitter to thanks his fans for their love and support in an emotional post.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 15, 2019
“I am tremendously grateful to every person out there who has supported me over the past few months. I am always learning and will continue to work at being the best human being I can be,” the post read.
“I deeply appreciate Disney’s decision and I am excited to continue making films that investigate the ties of love that bind us all. I have been, and continue to be incredibly humbled by your love and support. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Love to you all,” Gunn added.
Post his firing, Disney had not replaced Gunn with any new director. According to a report by Variety, Gunn will be writing the screenplay of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 as well, which is presently scheduled for a 2020 release. Apart from the Marvel project, Gunn is reportedly in talks to write and direct the sequel of DC’s Suicide Squad, which will present a conflict of interest to the filmmaker as Marvel and DC are old rivals.
The first two Guardians of the Galaxy films were both critically and commercially a success, accumulating 1.6 billion dollars at the worldwide box office.