When one door closes, another one opens.
Previously, Disney made the decision to fire James Gunn as the director on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after some years-old joke tweets were dug up and placed under public scrutiny. Stemming from his Troma past, the jokes were highly offensive in nature, as they were designed to be at the time. Although his screenplay for Guardians 3 will still be used, Gunn was completely removed from the upcoming production, pushing back its release date and leaving the director’s future in Hollywood uncertain.
Now, Deadline reports that Gunn’s next big move will be to go from one superhero franchise to another. Warner Bros. has hired Gunn to write the screenplay for Suicide Squad 2, the followup to the panned-yet-profitable 2016 ensemble film. As the ink is still drying on this signing, it’s unclear if Gunn will also be directing the film, but is reportedly in talks to do so. Given the immense popularity of his work on the Guardians franchise, however, it seems likely Gunn will be given the opportunity to bring his creative vision for the sequel to life himself by sitting in the director’s chair.
While it’s disappointing Gunn won’t be able to finish the work he set out to do with Guardians 3, there’s a certain excitement in seeing him come to the DCEU. It’s possible Gunn will take Suicide Squad 2 in a totally new direction by adding his own creative touch, and perhaps breathe new life into the franchise by bringing a lot of his Marvel fans with him. It will be a challenge for James Gunn to jump into a universe that’s already been established with so many related movies, but hey, it’s not like he hasn’t done it before with excellent results.
Let’s just hope Gunn finds a good role for Michael Rooker.
