MCU: Taika Waititi WON'T Direct Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3
He does want to make another Marvel movie though.
Marvel StudiosHopes for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 finding a great replacement for James Gunn have taken a blow, with Taika Waititi confirming that he won't direct the MCU sequel.
Gunn was fired from the project last year, after a number of controversial tweets came to light, and Guardians 3 has since been pushed back a few years. In the wake of Gunn's firing, Waititi was one of the names most commonly suggested to take over, given his past experience with the MCU and how well his tone and style would fit with the team.
At the TCA tour, where Waititi was speaking about FX series What We Do In The Shadows, he was asked about potentially directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and whether he'd met with Marvel before deciding not to direct it. He said (via Deadline):
"I didn’t really. For me, those are James (Gunn)’s films. Going into something like that with his stamp all over his films, would be like going into someone’s house and saying ‘Hey, I’m your new dad, and this is how we make peanut butter sandwiches now. It feels kind of awkward.”
Replacing Gunn doesn't look like it's going to be an easy task for Marvel, not least because he is so popular and friendly with most of the best choices to take on the job. This was evidenced was a recent Twitter thread involving Edgar Wright, Chris Miller, and Waititi himself:
Gunn himself, of course, has now moved to Marvel's rivals, DC. He's set to write and direct The Suicide Squad, which is aiming for a 2021 release date, making an already unlikely return even more difficult to pull off. It is still a big job though, and Marvel insist the film will happen eventually, but the question of who'll direct it is going to go on a lot longer yet.
As for Waititi himself, he does remain interested in directing another Marvel film, saying: "I’m still hanging out with those guys and talking about new stuff." Whether that's Thor 4, Nova, or something else entirely remains to be seen, but after Thor: Ragnarok it'll be exciting to see whatever he decides to do in the MCU.
Who do you think should direct Guardians 3? Let us know down in the comments.