Chris Pratt Opens Up On James Gunn Firing, Says It’s Not An Easy Time

Several weeks have now passed, and Disney’s shocking dismissal of Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is almost in our collective, rear-view mirror. However, the fallout of the situation is showing no signs of disappearing any time soon. The abrupt parting of studio and filmmaker (over the latter’s controversial tweets) is a constant source of debate online. And after every new development, more arguments and ethical questions arise.

Is it right to judge someone so long after the original event? Was Disney right to fire Gunn so quickly without investigating further? How much should context be considered in situations like this? And, when less-than savory characters are clearly muddying the waters for their own ends, how much should this apply?

It’s a moral minefield, to be sure, and as the fallout continues, Chris Pratt has now opened up on the situation a bit, saying that it’s “not an easy time” for him. The actor, who plays Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy films and also reprised the role for Avengers: Infinity War, told The Associated Press today that he stands behind the open letter him and his Guardians co-stars shared and hopes that Gunn can still return for Vol. 3.

“It’s not an easy time. We all love James and he’s a good friend of ours, but we also really love playing the Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a complicated situation for everybody. And you know, we just want to move forward and do what’s right and be the best people we can be,” Pratt told the AP.

Continuing on, the actor explained how shocked he was by the whole situation, and that a lot of thought went into making that aforementioned open letter.

“I love going to Comic-Con but I ended up not doing a lot of interviews around that time just because it was so shocking. All I know is we put a lot of time, thought and effort into the statement that we released about it. And I think we all kind of want that statement to be essentially what we have to say about it. And we were pretty clear and honest about how we feel,” Pratt said.

As for where the ongoing saga of James Gunn stands at the moment, well, things are still pretty messy, with tons of conflicting reports flying around the web. We know that numerous studios have their eye on him, but apparently Kevin Feige’s still pleading with Disney to consider rehiring the director for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Whether they’ll change their mind or not remains to be seen, but as the situation continues to unfold, we’ll be sure to keep you posted every step of the way.