Patty JenkinsPhoto: Matt Winkelmeyer (Getty Images)
DC fans were surprised earlier this week when dropped the news that a third Wonder Woman movie would not be taking place. After DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn tweeted about the “troubled environment” and the “inevitable transition period” as we transitioned to telling a cohesive story across film, television, animation and gaming, more details about the decision brought to light.
The Wrap has reported that director and co-writer Patty Jenkins has pulled out of the project after falling out with studio brass over her treatment for Wonder Woman 3. Warner Bros. Film Group co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy dismissed the proposal, and asked Jenkins to take things in a different direction. Gunn and his co-CEO Peter Safran were not involved in the decision but agreed with it.
According to one of The Wrap’s sources, the Monster director declined to reconfigure her pitch, wanting De Luca and Abdy “to know that they were wrong, that they didn’t get her, didn’t get the character , the character didn’t understand arcs and didn’t understand what Jenkins was up to.” She reportedly sent De Luca an email that included a link to the Wikipedia page for “character arc,” nor did she participate in further conversations with Gunn and interested in saffron.
The report also notes that Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 was previously on the list of projects “no one would mess with” while DC Studios gears up to create a shared universe. Other such titles include Matt Reeves’ sequel to The Batman, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ and JJ Abrams’ Superman and Joker: Folie À Deux.
According to The Wrap, Warner Bros. hopes Gal Gadot will continue playing Wonder Woman, although the studio has yet to reach out to her about moving forward without Jenkins. Earlier this week, ahead of the Hollywood Reporter article, the actor accepted Twitter to promise the character a “next chapter.”