DC Studios not developing Wonder Woman 3, despite Gal Gadot's comments

The already murky situation surrounding a hypothetical third Wonder Woman movie got a whole bucket of mud dumped on it this afternoon, as Variety reports that no such film is currently in development at DC Studios—despite series star Gal Gadot having made the rounds of late, suggesting that it very much was. Specifically, Gadot has stated recently, in a handful of interviews, that she’s met with DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, telling journalists that the pair have pledged to develop Wonder Woman 3 with her.

(Here she is, talking to Flaunt 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.”)

Gunn himself—who’s typically been pretty open about the doings of DC Studios, including responding to press reports about the studio on Twitter—hasn’t said a word about any of this, as yet. (He previously weighed in on the situation back when Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins was functionally let go from the franchise, extending her a cordial note of goodbye.) Variety’s sources, though, say Gunn and Safran never made any promises to Gadot, and that no development work is being done on a third Wonder Woman movie.

All of which reflects the very messy nature of Gunn and Safran’s takeover of DC Films, which has been largely—and probably not by their design—consumed by filtering through which elements, if any, of Zack Snyder’s past version of the DC Extended Universe they might keep. (Including rolling out already-in-development Flash and Aquaman movies, among other things.) Gunn has not been shy about his desire to reboot at least some of the characters under his watch, throwing his considerable enthusiasm behind his own Superman: Legacy, which will ditch Henry Cavill and Amy Adams for David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan. (He and Safran are also developing a Wonder Woman prequel show, Paradise Lost, that Gadot isn’t expected to be involved in.)

But from an outside perspective, it seems be turning increasingly difficult for the pair to build momentum for that new future while the remnants of the old one are still hanging around, filling up their film schedules (and god only knows what they’ll do if Aquaman 2 turns out to be another billion-dollar hit—although, at least in that case, Safran can claim some ownership over the project, unlike, say, this summer’s The Flash.) Gadot, clearly, is pushing for forward momentum on behalf of her own version of the character, and it’s hard to fault her; the original Wonder Woman was one of the early saving graces of the DCEU, and the sequel’s box office failure came with about a billion obvious caveats. (Most notably, being released well before the box office had recovered from the COVID-19 lockdowns.) It’ll be fascinating to see how Gunn and Safran handle the increased focus on this particular superhero handover. Gadot last appeared as Wonder Woman in a brief cameo in The Flash, and, before that, in a similarly brief moment in this year’s Shazam! Fury Of The Gods.