Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most anticipated movies of the next couple years, with the release date expected to be sometime in 2020. But, things may have hit a standstill after the film’s director, James Gunn, was pulled from the project by The Walt Disney Co. following old tweets resurfacing about him joking on things like rape and pedophilia.

However, although the move by Disney was made less than two weeks ago, the film’s actors — namely Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana and Vin Diesel, among others, who are leading the charge — wrote an open letter about James Gunn to fully support him, hoping that he will be rehired to direct the third installment of the film.

According to CBS News, the cast waited 10 days to issue the statement to “think, pray, listen and discuss.” After deliberating, the superstar names mentioned above, as well as fan petitions and James Gunn’s own brother, Sean Gunn, have issued statements to support the recently fired director, hoping their influence will make Disney reconsider their ousting of him and bring him back.

Chris Pratt, who has seemed to be at the forefront of the movement to get James Gunn rehired, took to Instagram to post an open letter in support of the director, which included words of encouragement and signatures from various actors in the movie. Here’s a look at what it read.

The letter, which has an astounding 1.3 million likes, was followed with a caption from Pratt that was quick to say he didn’t support James Gunn’s jokes from years ago, but that he is “a good man.” It is quite the powerful statement for the Guardians of the Galaxy cast to show such support.

“Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. I’d personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3. If you please, read the following statement- signed by our entire cast.”

James Gunn’s Twitter account includes several tweets from 2008-2011 in which he debated and sparred with several right-winged people about political issues. It was in those tweets, among others, that led to his ultimate firing.

As the original writer and director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise through the first two films and, until 10 days ago, the third, James Gunn has brought in more than $1.5 billion in global box office sales. With so much invested into the third film to complete the trilogy — and, potentially, more installments to follow — it will be interesting to see if The Walt Disney Co. holds firm on their decision or feels the pressure from its superstar actors to bring back Gunn.

(H/T CBS News)