'Wonder Woman 3' Will Be A Contemporary Story With The Door Open For A Cheetah Return, Patty Jenkins Says

Almost immediately after Wonder Woman 1984's release, Warner Bros. greenlit a sequel, which director Patty Jenkins has been steadily teasing for the past year. But while plans are always in motion, Jenkins has some tantalizing hints about where Wonder Woman 3 could go.

Spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 follow.

In an interview with Den of Geek, Patty Jenkins confirmed that she purposefully left the fate of Barbara Minerva ambiguous at the end of Wonder Woman 1984 in order to leave the door open for a Cheetah return in the next (and likely final) chapter in Diana Prince's story:

"I have my reasons for making it ambiguous, and I think it's not clear what her point of view [is] on everything that just happened. I love that we wrap up Max Lord's point of view, and that you see the culmination of that storyline, I think is so important. But the truth is there may or may not be more to come [for Barbara]."

Unlike Maxwell Lord, and the rest of the world, we never see Barbara renounce her wish, which suggests she keeps the powers that she gained from her first wish of wanting to be like Diana. The film ends with Barbara alive and no longer in her Cheetah form — which she only gained thanks to Max giving her increased powers from his deals with other people's wishes — watching the sunrise. Barbara's story arc is in no way resolved, which could mean a return in Wonder Woman 3, though Jenkins would not confirm whether or not this is the case.

The only confirmed details for Wonder Woman 3, which Warner Bros. is fast-tracking for development, are that both Jenkins and star Gal Gadot will return. However, Jenkins had confirmed previously that she has no intention of "doing another period piece."

"I'm not planning to put it in the past again, because where are you going to go?" Jenkins said. "You have to go forward. It's definitely a contemporary story. That's all I can say. Where we put it and how that gets figured out, I haven't totally nailed down."

There's also that post-credits scene that revealed the ancient Amazonian warrior Asteria (Lynda Carter, in a surprise cameo) had survived her battle with the armies of men, and was living discreetly in the world just like Diana. While Asteria's appearance seemed more like a cute cameo than a real set-up for the sequel, the post-credits sequence does suggest we could see a meeting between Diana and the legendary Amazon warrior.