It seems Marvel Studios has no intention of using James Gunn’s script as the basis for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Or so says Christopher Marc of Omega Underground.
The industry sleuth begins by stressing that, at least for now, this is nothing more than another MCU rumor, but it does raise concern over Dave Bautista’s future as Drax the Destroyer.
Two days ago, the Marvel veteran delivered something of an ultimatum to the Powers That Be: if Gunn’s script is abandoned, he’ll walk away from the cosmic threequel entirely, as he’d be doing James Gunn a “disservice” by starring in the third and final installment of a trilogy that hasn’t received the blessing of the man responsible for creating said trilogy in the first place.
Everything is still in a state of flux at the moment – Omega Underground’s latest intel is mere speculation, while Disney is still in the process of finding a replacement for James Gunn, who had his Marvel contract swiftly terminated last month after a series of gross and incendiary tweets resurfaced.
There’s also the very real possibility that Disney will want to distance itself from James Gunn by any means necessary, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Mouse House (and, by extension, Marvel Studios) is prepared to scrap Gunn’s screenplay entirely so that the director’s name is in no way affiliated with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/_ChristopherM/status/1027141171460616192
If this is the case, and Marvel Studios is prepared to sever ties with James Gunn and his finished screenplay, then Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is facing a huge production delay. Suddenly that mooted May 2020 release window seems like nothing more than a pipe dream…