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James Gunn responds to fan call to recast Chris Pratt’s Star Lord

Following a viral Tweet calling for Marvel to recast Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn has shared that he won't replace the actor as Star-Lord

James Gunn responds to fan call to recast Chris Pratt's Star Lord

Following the call from fans to replace Chris Pratt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, director James Gunn has issued his response. Taking to social media, Gunn firmly told the public that he would not recast the leading role of Star-Lord in his Guardians of the Galaxy movies – meaning that love it or hate it, Pratt is here to stay.

On Twitter, a fan posted a pic of Chris Pratt next to Patrick Wilson, calling for Marvel Studios to replace the star as the leading man in its Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. James Gunn quickly responded to the viral Tweet with the following: “For what? Because of your made-up, utterly-false beliefs about him? For something that someone else told you about him that’s not true?”

“Chris Pratt would never be replaced as Star-Lord,” the filmmaker continued. “But, if he ever was, we would all be going with him.” A Twitter user went on to ask if Gunn was “cool with him [Pratt] being part of a homophobic church,” which Gunn refuted.

“He isn’t. I know the church he currently goes to,” Gunn replied. “Do you? (The answer is you don’t, but you heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone where he goes to church, so decided, ‘yeah, OK, I’ll believe this terrible thing I heard online about this celebrity!’)”

Previously Pratt has been criticised for his affiliation with the Zoe Church, which is an off-shoot of Hillsong Church – a megachurch. In a 2015 blog post, Hillsong’s global senior pastor Brian Houston wrote: “We are a gay welcoming church, but we are not a church that affirms a gay lifestyle.”

Back in 2019, Elliot Page criticised Pratt’s association with such an institution, tweeting, “If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organisation that hates a certain group of people, don’t be surprised if someone simply wonders why it’s not addressed.” Pratt responded to Page, stating that Zoe Church is an accepting place and that there is “no place for hate in my or this world.”

Gunn has firmly said his piece despite the conflicting views and opinions on the actor and will not be replacing Pratt. The director is currently filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is scheduled to hit theatres on May 5, 2023.