With James Gunn out of the director’s chair for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, there has been a lot of speculation around who will take over for him. As of this writing, production has been delayed inevitably, and there’s been no official word as to when things will be picking up again. However, recent rumors have one rising director as a potential to pick things up where Gunn left off.

Travis Knight is the name that was most recently being thrown around, and while he’s a relatively new one, his name already has plenty of positive connotations. For starters, the man founded LAIKA, the stop-motion animation studio responsible for classics like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. Knight also directed that latter film and his latest film, Bumblebee, is already garnering tons of positive buzz (no pun intended). But how real are the rumors of Marvel eyeing him for Guardians?

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Speaking with Bad Taste (and translated via Google), here is his response:

“After Bumblebee, my goal is to return to work at the animation studios Laika, my ‘child,’ bringing with me all the baggage of experiences I have gained with this project. […] I’m a huge fan of what Marvel did, it’s no surprise for anyone to know that as a child I was a huge fan of comics. But no, it’s just a rumor!”

So there you have it. As of this writing, this should squarely be put in the “rumor” column in your head, especially since Knight seems to be itching to return to the stop-motion world. That being said, the gears are always turning over in Hollywood, and you never know what Marvel Studios is up to.

Would you like to see Knight head over to Marvel Studios for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Bad Taste (via CBR)