US actor Chris Pratt, who is the star of Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ franchise, says the third film in the hit series is still on after the exit of filmmaker James Gunn. While speaking with Variety, Pratt said, “I promise there’ll be a third movie, I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like, but I know everyone on board is just eager to give the fans what they want and wrap up a trilogy in a meaningful way.” Gunn was fired by Disney, the company that owns Marvel Studios, after his offensive old tweets were brought to light by US conservatives. In those tweets, Gunn appeared to joked about topics like rape and paedophilia. Gunn had apologised for his past tweets in a statement, saying, “My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since – not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.” He had added, “Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then.” Gunn directed both Guardians films, co-wrote the first and had the sole writing credit on the sequel, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2’. He had also finished the first draft of the third film, titled ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’. The cast of the film had written an open letter to Disney, imploring the studio to rehire Gunn. But the studio refused to budge. Till date, a replacement director has not been announced. Published in Daily Times, February 4th 2019.