Guardians of the Galaxy 3: James Gunn, Chris Pratt, Kevin Feige Open Up About Gunn’s Firing and Return

Ahead of the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 next month, a number of high-profile names behind it – including director James Gunn, star Chris Pratt, and Marvel’s Kevin Feige – opened up about when Gunn was once fired from the project in a new THR cover story.

In a shocking move back in 2018, Gunn was outsed from the series due to offensive tweets from 2008 and 2009 that were resurfaced and largely circulated by conservative social media personalities. It was a call made by then-Disney chair Alan Horn, but then reversed after significant pushback from fans and Guardians’ own cast.

Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito called Pratt to tell him that Gunn was fired, to which Pratt said he replied “Jesus fucking Christ, don’t do it.” Pom Klementieff, meanwhile, immediately burst into tears and cut short her visit to San Diego Comic-Con, where she was promoting Avengers: Infinity War.

“My feet weren’t on the ground at that point,” Gunn said of the period of time after being fired. “It really made me go, ‘What matters to me? Adulation and money? Is that really what I care about?’ ”

It’s a hundred percent because Alan Horn felt sick.

According to the THR story, however, he stayed close to Feige, who worked to still use the script Gunn wrote for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Feige said they never explored a replacement director: “We couldn’t stomach it.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, so we can use the script written by James Gunn, but we just can’t have him direct?’ ” Pratt said. “The script is so good that you’re going to be like, ‘Yeah, we had to get rid of him because we couldn’t associate with that man. But we will make his script.’ “

Horn eventually changed his mind, though, bringing Gunn back on (not before, of course, Gunn had already committed to directing DC’s Suicide Squad).

“It’s a hundred percent because Alan Horn felt sick. He did it because he thought it was the right thing to do,” Gunn said of the exec rehiring him as director.

Gunn’s New Role

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will likely be the last Marvel will see of Gunn – or, at the very least, his last project at the studio for a very long time. Last year, it was announced that Gunn was tapped to be co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, and the two announced their new roadmap for DC earlier this year. Of the many projects announced, Gunn is personally writing and directing at least one of them: Superman: Legacy, set to be released on July 11, 2025.

That doesn’t mean he’s not protective of his lovable band of misfits back at Marvel, however. In the THR story, Gunn also revealed that he wasn’t thrilled about some of the decisions made regarding Pratt’s Star-Lord in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.

“I can’t imagine playing Mantis with someone else writing the words.

“They did some things that I wouldn’t have wanted,” Gunn said, specifying that he thinks Star-Lord would’ve made the decision to kill Gamora per her request, but wouldn’t have made the ill-considered move of punching Thanos while Mantis subdued him.

“I can’t imagine playing Mantis with someone else writing the words,” Klementieff told THR, and Gunn added that she and Pratt reached out to him for check-ins during the Avengers shoot.

For more on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, check out Zoe Saldana’s comments on why she may be done with Gamora, but there may be more Guardians in the MCU yet to come.

Thumbnail credit: Karwai Tang / Getty Images

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.