Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has clarified that writer/director James Gunn's script for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will still be used as the basis for the film. This comes despite Gunn being fired from the project in July 2018 following the resurfacing of offensive tweets he made years before working for Disney and Marvel. However, Feige has also clarified that Gunn was not an "architect" of the MCU's cosmic film plans.

"His influence was Guardians. It was Guardians," Feige told CinemaBlend. "It was his input on Guardians and the Avengers films, as you've seen in [Avengers: Infinity War], and on the Guardians 3 script, which we’re still using. So you'll see that influence. I think online, sort of the notion of ‘architect across multiple cosmic things’ was slightly blown out of proportion."

Feige's statement refers to comments made by Gunn in 2017 in which he said Guardians Vol. 3would be "the beginning of a whole other element of the Marvel Cosmic universe," and that the film would "kickstart" the new era of the MCU and set up the next "ten years and beyond" of Marvel films.

"Much of what’s happened in the MCU for the past ten or so years has been leading, in a big way, to the Avengers’ Infinity War. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will happen after all that. It will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond," Gunn said. "I will be working side-by-side with Kevin Feige and the gang to help design where these stories go, and make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special and authentic and magical as what we have created so far."

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still planned, however it no longer has a publicly scheduled release date. No replacement director for Gunn has been named.