In the ten days since Disney fired James Gunn following outrage over offensive tweets he had posted years ago prior to being hired by Marvel, over 340,000 people have signed a petition at change.org urging the studio to rehire him. But today he got support from nine people who might have more power to bring him back than even hundreds of thousands of fans, because the stars of Guardians of the Galaxy shared an open letter encouraging his reinstatement to director of Volume 3 of the MCU series.

Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, and Michael Rooker all signed a letter to their “fans and friends” explaining why Gunn still has their “love, support, and gratitude,” even though they do not condone what he had said in his old tweets.

If you please, read the statement written and signed by The Guardians of the Galaxy cast in support of James Gunn’s reinstatement as director of GOTG Volume 3. pic.twitter.com/TjNA9RF6M8

— Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) July 30, 2018

Whether this letter has any influence on Disney and will help them make a decision to bring Gunn back or not remains to be seen, but their statement does echo many of the same sentiments fans have expressed in support of the director–including nothing that he has previously apologized for these very same tweets. We also don’t know if this is the extent of support he will get from the Guardians cast. Would Marvel and Disney cancel the third film if the entire cast unanimously declared they wouldn’t return without him? If that’s even something they could do with their contracts. As the cast notes in their letter, Gunn’s story isn’t over.

Featured Image: Marvel