Because of all of the controversies that lead up to James Gunn being fired from Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, it is starting to look like the highly anticipated sequel will have to be put on hold. New reports say that even though the early stages of pre-production have begun in Atlanta, crew members are being sent home and are free to look for work elsewhere. More on the story below.

Per THR, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently being put on hold as Marvel and Disney regroup on the project, which will alter its original schedule. (No release date had been announced.) The move comes after Disney president Alan Horn would not rehire Gunn, who was fired for old tweets. While there is no doubt those posts were shameful, they were made over a decade ago when the director was trying to be humorous through shocking tweets. Gunn had also publicly apologized for them multiple times and Disney was aware of them before they hired him for the first GoTG film.

Horn apparently wanted to protect the family brand of Disney from controversy, so he fired Gunn. This was met with extreme opposition as fans did not like that the Guardians Of The Galaxy director was fired because an alt-right group dug up old tweets.

Disney has made no mention of who they are looking at to replace Gunn. A selection – or maybe even a decision – will be made when Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige returns home. He was away while Horn finalized Gunn’s termination. And while there were rumors that Feige had been fighting for Gunn, reports say that the Feige eventually agreed with Horn’s decision.

As for who could possibly replace Gunn, there are rumors that say Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi could be the guy. While he is currently working on Jojo Rabbit, he has met with Disney executives for a mysterious project. Many believe that it could be Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, although Disney has refused to comment on the matter.

The situation is pretty dire. For one thing, key members of the cast are threatening to walk off the project entirely if any part of Gunn is removed. Dave Bautista, who plays Drax The Destroyer, has gone on record saying he won’t be a part of the film if they do not use Gunn’s script. While it has been reported that Disney will use Gunn’s script, there was no official confirmation. Some of the other members of the cast have chosen to express their feelings on the matter differently. But all of them signed a joint letter asking that Disney rehire Gunn, an effort that proved to be futile.

This latest news seems to suggest that Disney and Marvel will start over, which can only push the film’s release date further back.

Of course, we will keep you updated as any new developments come in. For now, we will just have to wait and see.

[Source: THR]