James Gunn Shockingly Responds To A Fan Calling For Chris Pratt To Be Recast

James Gunn took to Twitter to defend Chris Pratt over fans calling for the latter to be recast in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise

By Doug Norrie | Published 3 years ago

There have been some fans of Marvel who’ve taken umbrage with the fact that Chris Pratt has been cast as Star-Lord, taking time out of their schedule to rally and petition the studio to find another actor to take his place. It’s all for naught of course because this dude isn’t going anywhere, at least not from a recasting perspective. And James Gunn took to Twitter to shoot down any speculation that there would be changes for Marvel where Chris Pratt is concerned. Again, it’s not like the guy’s career was in jeopardy by any means, but James Gunn put a stamp on it with how he responded to a recent post.

James Gunn fired up Twitter this week to see that a post was trending with an account lobbying to have Chris Pratt replaced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Patrick Wilson. There wasn’t any context given along those lines, but this has been a somewhat recurring theme over the years where Pratt is concerned. Some of it stems, in part, from his apparent association with a certain church that has allegedly espoused homophobic views in the past, though that’s been held in contention as well. Regardless, in response to the recasting suggestion, James Gunn laid the hammer down with how he views Chris Pratt as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel family. Check it out:

James Gunn is quick to point out that he believes the narrative around Chris Pratt is “made up” and that if Chris Pratt were to go then everyone else would be out along with him. In terms of standing up for your people, this is a pretty clear sign of how Gunn feels about working with Pratt both now and in the future. Again, Pratt’s status as Peter Quill/ Star-Lord was never really in doubt, but from the point of view of James Gunn it looks like the director just wants the talking points to shift once and for all. On that front, he might have a tougher time, but at least it’s clear about where he stands. 

And from a working relationship stance, James Gunn is about as familiar with Chris Pratt as anyone in the industry. The two first worked together on the original Guardians of the Galaxy which brought this superhero team into the limelight in a big way. From a Marvel perspective, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot were relative unknowns in the comic book world. They had a smaller following but didn’t come close to rating when compared to the Avengers crowd. Gunn helped changed that with a rock-and-roll story about the group’s origins. It was a massive hit with both critics and at the box office.

Now James Gunn and Chris Pratt are gearing up to bring the third movie in the franchise when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 hits screens on May 5th of next year. It will complete the trilogy and will be the final flick with this original group of characters. The film is currently in post-production. And now we know that if Chris Pratt were to go, James Gunn would go right along with him.