The Director of “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” has been Fired

James Gunn. Photo by Vianney Le Caer/REX/Shutterstock (8628323h)

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is in search of a new director following the dismissal of James Gunn.

The filmmaker has helmed both previous films in the Marvel franchise and was in the midst of writing the screenplay for the third installment.

Walt Disney Studios, which distributes the Guardians films, confirmed that Gunn had been fired after tweets he made in 2008 and 2009 regarding rape and pedophilia resurfaced.

At the time of the resurface, the 51-year-old said, “Many people who have followed my career know, when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.”

On Friday, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Alan Horn, “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is scheduled to begin filming in the fall with a release date sometime in 2020.