Production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been temporarily put on hold, meaning we might have to wait a little longer to see Star Lord and co. back on our cinema screens in another tongue-in-cheek superhero adventure.

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Deadline has confirmed that the small crew who’d been assembled for pre-production have been dismissed while the studio searches for a new director for the project following James Gunn's departure.

While no release date for the film had ever been confirmed by Disney or Marvel, it was thought that filming would begin in January or February. "The timeline has been pushed out," a source told The Hollywood Reporter.

Despite mounting pressure from the public and the Guardians of the Galaxy cast, Disney is reportedly 'unlikely' to re-hire Gunn for the third instalment of the film franchise.

Gunn was removed from Guardians Vol 3 in July after a series of offensive tweets sent between 2008 and 2011 – which feature jokes about rape and paedophilia – were unearthed.

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More than 360,000 people have signed a petition calling for the director to be re-hired, and the cast – including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Karen Gillan – wrote an open letter in support of their former director. Pratt added in an Instagram post that he would "love to see" Gunn get his job back.

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However, Variety reports that Disney is not likely to budge on their position, as the feeling within both Marvel and Disney is that the jokes Gunn made are "unacceptable in the #MeToo era and are not in line with Disney’s family-friendly image".

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