Kate Beckinsale is one of those actresses who it seems obvious would be in a superhero movie at some point. She's got the look, and she proved her action chops during her decade plus as the death-dealing vampire Selene in the Underworld series. And though she hasn't donned superhero tights yet, she did come close. At one point back in the mid-2000's she was attached to play Wonder Woman in a film. That didn't pan out, and the character languished until Gal Gadot took on the role and starred in the character's solo film last year. Looking back, Kate Beckinsale really isn't upset that her Wonder Woman movie fell through, because it wouldn't have been good, as she explained:
No. It would have been a terrible movie based on the script that I read.
How's that for bluntness? Personally I think Kate Beckinsale would have made a great Wonder Woman, but a great Wonder Woman alone does not make a successful movie. As she told Variety, Kate Beckinsale believes it would not have been a great movie, based on the script that she read. She has no regrets about not being Wonder Woman, and is glad things worked out the way they did because of the quality of Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman. That film is already beloved, and Beckinsale has intimated in the past that the film she was in the running for would definitely not have been that.
We don't know exactly which script Kate Beckinsale read back then, but it was presumably the one written by Joss Whedon. The director of The Avengers wrote the script for the cancelled film, which back then seemed like a great pick, given his history of writing great female characters. However the script was leaked a while back, and it came under a bit of criticism from some people-- partly for focusing too much on Steve Trevor and making Wonder Woman play second fiddle. Obviously things may have changed from the page to the screen, but if this is the script Kate Beckinsale read it sounds like she too had some problems with it.
Kate Beckinsale doesn't have any regrets about not getting to rock the bracelets and tiara, but I think she would still be well suited to a role in a comic book film. Not that long ago some fan art came out imagining her donning the black leather again, this time to play Catwoman in the DCEU's Gotham City Sirens. Kate Beckinsale can next be seen in Farming, the directorial debut of actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. She will also be starring in Amazon's upcoming drama series The Widow.
As for the Wonder Woman movie that did get made, it's getting a sequel. Wonder Woman 1984 opens in theaters on November 1, 2019. Keep an eye on our guide for everything going on the DCEU.
