Shortly after Gal Gadot renewed hope by seemingly confirming Wonder Woman 3 was in development at Warner Bros., inside sources are claiming that’s not what’s happening. In an interview recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike and published in August 2023, Gadot refuted previous reports that Wonder Woman 3 was canceled. She said she spoke to DC Studios’ co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, and was under the impression they would be developing the film together.
Wonder Woman 3 had previously been greenlit by Warner Bros. in late 2020, with Gadot signed on to reprise her role as the titular hero and Patty Jenkins returning as director. However, after Gunn and Safran were instated as co-CEOs of DC Studios last year, the film was shelved.
Despite the film being shelved, the role of Wonder Woman wasn’t recast, as the roles of Batman and Superman were, raising some hope of Gadot returning. Additionally, a Wonder Woman spin-off TV series, Paradise Lost, is currently in development at Max. It seemed possible that Gadot’s statement was legitimate and potentially meant Gunn and Safran were developing Wonder Woman 3 as a reboot or examining a new direction for the film after Jenkins’ departure.
Meanwhile, Gadot later doubled down on her statement in another recently-published interview with Flaunt Magazine. She told the magazine, “I was invited to a meeting with James Gunn and Peter Safran, and what they told me, and I’m quoting: ‘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.’ So time will tell.”
Again, such a statement is hard to refute as a misunderstanding, making the fact that it has allegedly been disputed quite suspicious.
Wonder Woman 3 reportedly not in development at DC Studios
On August 10, Variety broke the news that inside sources claimed Wonder Woman 3 is not actually in development at Warner Bros. According to these sources, the only Wonder Woman project in development is the spin-off series, and Gunn and Safran are not actively developing Wonder Woman 3. Additionally, the sources seemed to insinuate that Gadot’s statement to Flaunt Magazine was not true, claiming that no “definitive discussions” or “promises” were made about the film. Neither Gadot, Gunn, nor Safran have confirmed the reports. However, if they hold any truth, it means that someone was not being honest in this situation. It’s just unclear if it was Gadot, Gunn, or Warner Bros.
On the one hand, there’s speculation that Gadot might have pulled a Dwayne Johnson. Johnson gained quite a bit of media attention with his over-exuberant PR campaign for DC’s Black Adam. He was accused of lying about Black Adam‘s box office performance and made all kinds of promises he couldn’t keep to fans about Black Adam 2 and a future crossover of him and Henry Cavill’s Superman.
While Gadot has expressed much love for Wonder Woman, though, she has never been over-the-top in her promotions of the films and role. She has been very quiet since Gunn and Safran took over, only expressing small and understandable hope to renew the role. It also seems very unlikely that she would go as far as to claim to directly quote Gunn and Safran on something they never said.
That leaves us to wonder if Warner Bros. or Gunn and Safran are the culprits. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the first time the studio has misled its DC stars. Fans were outraged when the studio reportedly instructed Cavill to publicly announce his return as Superman, just to backtrack and reveal Gunn and Safran were recasting him. While Gunn has claimed to have no part in the Cavill debacle, he did receive scrutiny when he revealed he was already developing Superman: Legacy when Cavill announced his return and might have had some inkling that the recasting was going to happen. Additionally, he was accused of lying after he suggested Ben Affleck wanted to direct a DC film, only for Affleck to state he would “absolutely not” direct a movie for Gunn.
As in the case of Affleck and Cavill, Gunn is receiving criticism on social media over potentially fumbling Wonder Woman 3, too. There’s no evidence of his wrongdoing, but it can’t be denied that the handling of the old DCU regiment just keeps getting messier and messier.
It’s difficult to say what the true narrative in this situation is, but based on past evidence, it seems more likely that Gadot is the latest victim to get swept up into Warner Bros.’ DC mess than that she lied about Wonder Woman 3.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
