Disney still plans to use fired director James Gunn's script for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Although Disney dramatically fired writer-director James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the film will still tell the story he had planned.

The company has "every intention" of using Gunn's script for the upcoming movie, actor Sean Gunn, James' brother, recently told Tulsa World. Disney fired James Gunn from the project in July after offensive tweets he'd sent years ago, which included jokes about pedophilia, resurfaced. Disney said at the time that it was severing their relationship with him because his tweets were "indefensible," though critics who disagreed with Disney's decision pointed to the fact that Gunn had addressed the controversial tweets in the past, and that they were resurfaced in the first place by alt-right troll Mike Cernovich.

Either way, Gunn was fired from the project. But he had already fully completed his screenplay, leaving open the question of whether Disney would still make the movie using that script or start from scratch. The stars of the multi-billion dollar franchise were strongly in favor of Disney keeping Gunn's script, with Drax actor Dave Bautista saying he'd ask to be released from his contract if Disney didn't do so. The actors also put out a statement in July saying Gunn should be re-instated as director, though that door appears to be closed after Disney CEO Bob Iger recently doubled down on the decision to boot him in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

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Gunn will need to receive a writing credit if his script is retained. For now, production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is on hold, and while nobody is quite sure when it will resume, Sean Gunn says Marvel has assured him that it still plans to make the film at some point. Needless to say, though, the previously-anticipated May 2020 release is now out of the question. Read more at Tulsa World.