Marvel Wants James Gunn Back and Is Trying to Persuade Disney to Rehire Him on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ — Report

James Gunn‘s “Guardians of the Galaxy” cast has already voiced its support for the director to be rehired on the next sequel of the superhero franchise, and it appears Gunn also has the backing of Marvel Studios. Deadline reports behind-the-scenes talks are taking place between Marvel and Disney in which the former is trying to persuade the latter to bring Gunn back into the fold for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”

Disney severed all ties with Gunn on July 20 after jokes the filmmaker made on Twitter years ago about topics such as rape and pedophilia resurfaced. The jokes were re-published online by right wing journalists Jack Posobiec and Mike Cernovich. Gunn is an outspoken liberal who has used Twitter on many occasions to criticize Donald Trump.

According to Deadline, the discussions between Marvel and Disney started taking place after the entire “Guardians” cast published an open letter pushing Disney to reinstate Gunn as director. The letter was signed by Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Sean Gunn, Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker, and Karen Gillan. Previous reports about the unlikelihood of Gunn being rehired by Disney remain the most true at this point, Deadline says, although Marvel appears to be making one last effort to bring Gunn back.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” already has a 2020 release date set, and Disney and Marvel are both said to want to try and hit that date despite the director drama. Production on the film is scheduled to begin early next year. Head over to Deadline to read more from sources on the behind-the-scenes talks. IndieWire has reached out to Disney for further comment.