Dave Bautista says he might not return for Guardians 3 , which is 'on hold indefinitely'

Everett Collection

Even if Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 moves forward, Dave Bautista isn’t sure he’ll return to the franchise.

The actor, who plays Drax the Destroyer in the films, continued to speak out against Disney in the wake of James Gunn’s firing during an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show.

Asked about the franchise’s futures, he said, “It’s a bitter-sweet conversation — um, no it’s a bitter-bitter conversation because I’m not really happy with what they’ve done with James Gunn.”

He added, “They’re putting the movie off. It’s on hold indefinitely. To be honest with you I don’t know if I want to work for Disney.”

Since Disney fired Gunn from his post at Marvel, thereby dropping him as director of the third installment in a planned trilogy, production on the film has been put on hold, EW learned.

Gunn already wrote a draft of the script for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 when Disney announced the company “severed our business relationship” over decade-old tweets from Gunn joking about rape, pedophilia, and other inappropriate material. These “totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative,” as Gunn called them, were unearthed by alt-right conservatives in response to the filmmaker’s outspoken political beliefs online.

Gunn said, in part, through an apology, “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.”

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Bautista, and Sean Gunn all signed an open letter on the matter in support of Gunn’s reinstatement. However, reports surfaced that Disney would not reconsider its decision and would instead look to hire another director to take over.

Bautista, who’s been more verbal on the matter than some of his other costars, previously said he’d do what he’s “legally obligated to do” in terms of returning to the franchise, but called it “pretty nauseating to work for someone who’d empower a smear campaign by fascists.”