Sorry folks! If you have this dream of seeing maverick director James Gunn returning to direct the third instalment of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (a franchise that he was responsible for making a hot thing), be disappointed! As per a report in Variety, the studios are firm that they are not planning to bring back James Gunn on board. This is contrary to reports that they are rehiring him for GOTG 3 as well another secret Marvel project. The decision was taken at a recent meeting between Gunn, his reps and Disney studio chairman, Alan Horn.

The report further says that while Gunn and his reps tried their best to get him back on the project, but for Horn, the meet was more of a 'courtesy call' and that the decision to not rehire Gunn was already fixed beforehand. MCU honcho Kevin Feige was absent from the meeting, but reports say that he is agreeable to the decision that Disney has made.

This must be a major disappointment for all Marvel fans, as well as the stars of the GOTG series, who have been striving hard to reinstate Gunn as the director. As they are bound by contractual obligations, none of the stars can leave the franchise in protest. However, the most vocal protestor of them all, Dave Bautista, who plays Drax, had threatened to quit the franchise if they do not at least use the script that Gunn wrote for GOTG3.

James Gun was reportedly fired by the executives at Walt Disney Studios and Marvel, after some of his old tweets were highlighted by the alt-right supporters. In these tweets, Gunn was making some crass jokes on paedophilia, and incest. Gunn has been a very vocal critic of US President Donald Trump on social media, and this was his supporters way to get back at Gunn. Even though he apologised and said that he has changed a lot since then, Disney couldn't it in themselves to forgive Gunn for his past transgressions and fired him.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 16, 2018 04:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).