Taika Waititi has joked he thought he was all set to direct Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3.
It was announced on Friday that Disney was rehiring James Gunn, who directed and wrote the first two instalments of the Marvel franchise, after initially letting him go following a Twitter scandal in July.
He was fired after old tweets, in which he joked about paedophilia and rape, came to light, but following much outrage from fans and stars of the film, Disney has now decided to reinstate him at the helm.
Fans had put forward Thor: Ragnarok director Taika as a possible replacement when James was still ousted, though the New Zealand filmmaker ruled himself out earlier this year, stating “those are James Gunn’s films”. However, that didn’t stop him from poking fun at the situation on Twitter.
“What the hell?? I thought I was going to do it!!” he exclaimed next to Deadline’s article announcing James’ return.
Franchise star Karen Gillan, who has played space pirate Nebula since the first film in 2014, also alluded to the news on her own Twitter account.
“We are groot,” she wrote, referencing the loyal character voiced by Vin Diesel.
And James’ brother Sean Gunn, who has always defended his sibling and recently said that he had a feeling “everything’s gonna work itself out”, shared his joy as well.
“I’ll just leave this here…” he posted on Instagram, next to The Hollywood Reporter headline “James Gunn back on as Guardians of the Galaxy 3 director”.
Sean and Karen, along with their co-stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin, Michael Rooker, and Pom Klementieff, signed an open letter supporting James shortly after his firing.
Speaking about his rehiring, James told fans he was “tremendously grateful to every person out there” who had supported him, and added he deeply appreciates Disney’s change of heart.
