James Gunn will not return to direct 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'.

James Gunn

James Gunn

The 52-year-old director was sacked by Disney in light of a series of controversial tweets he posted over a decade ago but, although fans were hoping that the studio would reverse their decision, it's believes bosses are sticking to their guns.

According to Variety.com, Gunn had a meeting with Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn recently to discuss the prospect of having his job back but after a lot of negotiation, it's been decided that the studio will find someone else to helm the film.

Mr Horn previously released a statement in which he detailed the reasons for sacking the director, saying: "The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him."

However, fans were hopeful that he would make a return after the franchise's star-studded cast, which includes the likes of Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista, lashed out at Disney for their decision.

They said in a statement: "We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen, and discuss.

"In that time, we've been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3 as well as discouraged by those so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding him."

Gunn has been an integral part of the success of the 'Guardians' franchise, helming both of the first two films in the series, and, now that he's no longer involved, the direction of which the next movie will take is currently up in the air.

It was believed the movie would drop sometime in 2020 but there has been no official release date as of yet so it seems Disney and Marvel are in no rush to finish it.

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