If it isn’t already abundantly clear by the state of the film industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has crippled just about every aspect of the business, with theaters closing, films being delayed, and productions being halted. But not only that, the global event is causing filmmakers like Patty Jenkins to second-guess what they were working on with franchises like ‘Wonder Woman,’ as the world tries to figure out what the hell is going to happen in the future.
While promoting the upcoming release of “Wonder Woman 1984,” which is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters in October, director Patty Jenkins was asked by Total Film about the status of the next film in the franchise, ‘Wonder Woman 3,’ as well as the possible ‘Amazons’ spin-off. And while she’s previously said that the story that she wants to tell has been already worked out for future installments of ‘Wonder Woman,’ the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing her to take a break and re-evaluate everything.
“I’ve really hit the pause button [on ‘Wonder Woman 3’],” she explained. “Because the truth is, where that plotline was coming from was our state of being six months ago. And so I want to make sure that I’m totally absorbing whatever the result of this pandemic is.”
As for a timetable for when the third ‘Wonder Woman’ film might begin production or the ‘Amazons’ spin-off, it appears that Jenkins is also not sure when any of that might happen.
“We’re not starting to work on [‘Wonder Woman 3’] right away,” Jenkins explained. “I’m hoping to do this ‘Amazon’ movie before we do the third ‘Wonder Woman.’ And I may not do either of them. You never know what will happen in this world, you know? But yes, I think the plotline will stay very similar, probably. But I want to make sure it’s influenced by all of this.”
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves with proposed sequels and spin-offs, Warner Bros. has to first release ‘1984.’ And according to another interview with Total Film, with stars Gal Gadot and Kristen Wiig, the second ‘Wonder Woman’ film doesn’t feel like a sequel at all, mainly because of the massive time jump from World War I to the ‘80s.
“It really doesn’t feel like a sequel in that… everything’s different,” said Wiig. “The posters, the music, everything…Obviously the posters are different! I meant, like the style! A lot of time, with the sequel, you want to show the connection to the first one. And this one…”
“It’s totally of its own,” Gadot added. “It’s true. And I feel, in the first movie, a big thing that we played off was the naiveté of Diana. And she’s not naive anymore. She’s been around. She’s wiser. She’s more mature. We meet a very much evolved character in this one.”
Right now, “Wonder Woman 1984” is scheduled to be released on October 2.