James Gunn’s ‘Starsky and Hutch’ Cancelled

It turns out James Gunn‘s Starsky & Hutch reboot will not be part of Amazon‘s upcoming television series lineup.

Gunn has been at the center of debate after old tweets of his resurfaced, highlighting the crude humor he used to be known for on social media. An Amazon spokesperson told Yahoo! Finance that his in development Starsky & Hutch reboot for Amazon will not be moving forward, but it has nothing to do with recent events, as the project was concluded several months ago.

“We passed on the project completely months ago,” says the spokesperson. “There was no statement. This is the same for any other project we do not move forward with.”

Starsky & Hutch has previously been rebooted in film form thanks to Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, but there hasn’t been a television series in some time. The project was announced back in 2017, and Gunn described to Variety why he was excited about the project.

“When I was a kid, ‘Starsky & Hutch’ was the first ‘adult’ show I ever saw, and I fell in love,” said James Gunn. “It instilled in me a lifelong love of gritty street shows, of killer 70’s threads, and muscle cars. So when Neal Mortiz asked me if I wanted to be a part of an all-new ‘Starsky & Hutch’ on TV, I was instantly intrigued. I teamed up with the two writers I trusted most in the world to work with us, my brother Brian Gunn and my cousin Mark Gunn and together we came up with a show that I’m really proud of. At Amazon I believed we would have the most freedom to create something that is different, challenges the audience, and that strays outside the parameters of genre from time to time.”

The bigger news is that Gunn has been let go from Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after those tweets started making the rounds. Since that happened Gunn has apologized for those remarks, which you can find below.

“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,” Gunn said. “Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all.”