The search for James Gunn’s replacement on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ continues after director Taika Waititi confirmed he has no interest in the project…
Marvel has rarely made any missteps over the past 10 years but firing James Gunn might be one that comes back to haunt them.
The writer and director behind the first two ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ films was fired after some controversial tweets from Gunn several years before he worked for Marvel surfaced and the company ultimately decided to part ways with him.
The entire cast for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ including Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana wrote an impassioned letter asking for Gunn to be reinstated as the writer and director for the third film in the series but ultimately Marvel stuck to their initial decision and the director was fired.
Gunn is now moving over to DC with plans to write and direct a new ‘Suicide Squad’ movie while the hunt for a new director to take over ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ continues.
One person who has already ruled himself out of the search is ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ director Taika Waititi, who seemed like the only possible choice to step into Gunn’s shoes and produce a third film in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ series with a similar tone as the previous movies.
It seems Waititi was never approached about taking over ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ and he’s taking himself out of the running before any offer could even possibly come his way from Marvel.
“For me, those are James [Gunn]’s films,” Waititi said recently at the Television Critics Association gathering. “Going into something like that with his stamp all over his films, would be like going into someone’s house and saying ‘Hey, I’m your new dad, and this is how we make peanut butter sandwiches now.’ It feels kind of awkward.”
There’s still a chance Waititi returns to the Marvel family for a different movie but he won’t be coming back to take over the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ franchise.
For now, Waititi is finishing up his next film project titled ‘Jojo Rabbit’ for FOX Searchlight and he also directed an episode of the upcoming ‘Star Wars’ spinoff series ‘The Mandalorian’, which will air on the new Disney+ streaming service.
