Under the creative leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran, DC Studios is forging ahead with a new vision for Wonder Woman. Gunn confirmed the news that a new Wonder Woman project is actively in development.
"We're working on Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman's being written right now," Gunn said, offering fans the clearest indication yet that Princess Diana of Themyscira will be part of DC's future.
Gunn didn't reveal who is penning the script, and no casting decisions have been announced, leaving open the question of whether Gal Gadot will reprise the role or if a new actress will step into the character's boots.
This marks a shift from previous plans under the prior DC regime. When Gunn and Safran assumed control of DC Studios in late 2022, they began to dismantle the remnants of the Zack Snyder-helmed era, which included shelving Patty Jenkins' proposed "Wonder Woman 3". Jenkins' version was reportedly deemed inconsistent with the new direction, and the project was ultimately scrapped-despite having once been in active development.
Gunn also clarified that this new "Wonder Woman" film is entirely separate from the "Paradise Lost" series currently in the works for Max. First announced in early 2023 as part of Gunn and Safran's "Gods and Monsters" slate, "Paradise Lost" is set on Themyscira and has been described by Gunn as a "Game of Thrones-style" political drama set among the Amazons. That series is still in development.
"There's movement. It's slow-moving, but it's moving," Gunn said of Paradise Lost.
The filmmaker also acknowledged recent comments made by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who named Superman, Batman, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman as the "lynchpins" of DC's cinematic future. Gunn agreed with the assessment, adding, "I think that's accurate, actually. I think that he got that from something I said. I wouldn't say only those four characters, but I would say that those four characters are incredibly important to us." He added, "Right now, I feel great about where two of those characters are, and then we're dealing with the other two."
Back in August 2023, during a press tour for Netflix's Heart of Stone, Gadot told the press that she had met with Gunn and Safran and was told, "You're in the best hands. We're going to develop Wonder Woman 3 with you. [We] love you as Wonder Woman - you've got nothing to worry about."
However, shortly after Gadot's comments, DC sources told Deadline that no such project was officially in the works at that time, adding further confusion to her future within the franchise.
Patty Jenkins also addressed the uncertainty surrounding her departure from the threequel. "I never walked away. I was open to considering anything asked of me," she said in interviews following the cancellation of her version of "Wonder Woman 3".
That film had initially been announced shortly after the 2020 release of Wonder Woman 1984, which opened under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic. Released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max as part of WarnerMedia's experimental hybrid strategy, the film brought in a modest $170 million worldwide, including $47 million domestically. While the numbers were understandable given global theater closures, they paled in comparison to Jenkins' 2017 "Wonder Woman", which made over $822 million worldwide and set new benchmarks for female-led superhero films.
Tags: wonder woman, dc studios, james gunn