One Wonder Woman Star Isn't Happy About James Gunn's DC Universe Reboot

Connie Nielsen is about to return as Roman Princess Lucilla in Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II." One of the only cast and character carryovers from the original "Gladiator," Nielsen/Lucilla looks like she'll play the same supporting role to her son Lucius (Paul Mescal) as she did to Maximus (Russell Crowe) in the first.

Less than two months out from the "Gladiator II" premiere, Nielsen is on the press tour — and opening up about some of her other work. In a recent interview with Den of Geek, Nielsen said it's "a pity" that Warner Bros isn't going ahead with Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman 3." 

In the 2017 "Wonder Woman," Nielsen played Hippolyta, queen of Themyscira and mother to Diana (Gal Gadot). She then reprised her role twice: in both cuts of "Justice League," Hippolyta and her Amazons fight the villainous New God Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), and then the 2020 sequel "Wonder Woman 1984" cold opens with a flashback to Diana's childhood on the Amazons' Paradise Island.

"Wonder Woman 1984" underwhelmed; for some, it completely undercuts the goodwill of the first one. /Film was pretty positive at the time, though. Nielsen was also among the sequel's defenders too, claiming its COVID-19 necessitated pushbacks (and ultimate premiere on HBO Max) got it undeserved "scrutiny." 

Nielsen's comments to Den of Geek about the cancellation of "Wonder Woman 3" are below:

"I think it's crazy. I mean, frankly, I don't understand it. ['Wonder Woman'] made $800 million just in the movie theaters, and it has an enormous and passionate, passionate fan base. These are spectacular films, and there's just no reason I can understand whatsoever for not investing in that. If I were a business person, I would say that's money on the table. It's right there."

The history of "Wonder Woman" is inextricable from the larger recent history of DC Comics films. While Zack Snyder's Superman reimagining "Man of Steel" was in production, "The Avengers" became the biggest movie in the world. Warner Bros scrambled, realizing they had to build a countervailing DC Extended Universe with a big screen Justice League.

Gadot's debut film as Diana, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," was panned and underperformed (despite earning the approval of Snyder's devoted fanbase). All eyes fell on Gadot's "Wonder Woman" spin-off, helmed by Jenkins, to deliver. And it did! "Wonder Woman" got some of the best reviews the DCEU ever earned and, as Nielsen mentioned, an $800+ million box office gross. 

A live-action "Wonder Woman" film was long overdue; Gadot was the first silver screen Wonder Woman, acting beside the third Superman and sixth Batman. When "Justice League" also underperformed, it looked like Wonder Woman could be the glue that would hold the DCEU together; as far as 2023, Diana got cameos in "Shazam: Fury of the Gods" and "The Flash" that both play with the gravitas of an audience favorite strolling onto the set. 

Would Wonder Woman save the DCEU? Nope, not after "Wonder Woman 1984." When that movie turned out to be yet another of DC's disappointments, it transformed Gadot and Jenkins' third film from a sure thing to an uncertainty. 

DC films in general stand on uncertain ground right now. The newly formed DC Studios, co-headed by filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran, is rebooting the franchise. In December 2022, it was reported that Gunn and Safran had rejected Jenkins' treatment for a third "Wonder Woman," and the trilogy capper had been canceled altogether.

Then in August 2023, Gadot claimed she was working with Gunn and Safran on a third "Wonder Woman" film. Despite the DCU supposedly being a hard reset, Gunn has also said that John Cena (Peacemaker), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), and Xolo Maridueña (Blue Beetle) will keep their roles in his revised DCU. (It makes complete sense that Gunn intends to keep his own projects, "The Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker," canon.)

So would "Wonder Woman 3" still happen, just not in the way Jenkins wanted it? Evidently not, since Gadot's claims of working alongside Gunn and Safran to keep Diana around were debunked a week later.

This is pure speculation, but I think Gadot's Wonder Woman might be considered too synonymous with the old, Snyder-started DCEU. (Again, she's the only actress who's played Wonder Woman in a live-action blockbuster.) Keeping her around would send the wrong message when the DCU needs and wants as clean a break as possible. Funnily enough, Gadot-Wonder Woman's brief breakout (and subsequent overexposure) may be what made her staying in the part nonviable.

Gunn and Safran's new DC Universe will truly begin in 2025 with "Superman," starring David Corenswet and directed by Gunn himself. Depending on how that one turns out, we'll know if a DC Cinematic Universe, Take 2 is viable or dead in the water.

I'm wary of most superhero films these days, but I hope this undertaking is a success. Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, with their musical souls, are easily the most personal and artistically complete in the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gunn knows his DC Comics, too. Zack Snyder's depth of comic knowledge never seemed to go further than "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen," while Gunn's DC Studios has onscreen plans for Swamp Thing, the Authority, the Teen Titans, and Booster Gold.

As for Wonder Woman, the only current inkling of how she factors into Gunn/Safran's plans is "Paradise Lost," a planned TV series focused on the Amazons. As the DCU (hopefully) keeps expanding, here's hoping DC Studios can find a place for another "Wonder Woman" film (perhaps starring an actress who embodies Diana's principles this time). Gadot and Jenkins' duology may be the only "Wonder Woman" films now, but Diana is as capable and deserving of reinvention as Superman and Batman.