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Next week’s Wonder Woman 1984 marks Pedro Pascal’s superhero movie debut, as he’s playing Maxwell Lord, one of the sequel’s main antagonists. However, this isn’t Pascal’s first go-around in the world of DC Comics’ most famous Amazon. Back in 2011, Pascal starred as Detective Ed Indelicato in the unaired pilot for NBC’s Wonder Woman TV series, which featured Adrianne Paliciki as Diana Prince.
Nearly a decade later, while speaking with CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell about Wonder Woman 1984, Pedro Pascal acknowledged that he was worried that his involvement with this failed Wonder Woman TV show might have resulted in him not getting to play Maxwell Lord had the appropriate parties been aware. As the actor put it:
… I think that because of the impact of the first movie, and then, of course, the idea of getting to work with Patty Jenkins, it never occurred to me. And I’m glad that it didn’t because I think I probably would’ve been paranoid if they knew I had already had a go at a Wonder Woman project. Maybe they didn’t know at the time.
In another reality, perhaps NBC decided to give the green light to its Wonder Woman TV series and, similar to the Lynda Carter-led Wonder Woman show from the 1970s, it had a solid run. In our reality though, after seeing the pilot (which also starred Elizabeth Hurley as Veronica Cale, Tracie Thoms as Etta Candy, Justin Brueing as Steve Trevor and Cary Elwes as Henry Detmer), the network decided to not pick up the new series, and judging by the critical reactions that came from those who’d watched that one and only episode, it was probably for the best.
So things didn’t work out for Pedro Pascal on that Wonder Woman project, although he had fun making the pilot and was sad it didn’t get picked up to series. However, things worked out for him in the long run, and not just because he scored the opportunity to play a villain in a Wonder Woman movie. In the years after shooting the Wonder Woman pilot, Pascal starred in TV shows Graceland, Game of Thrones and Narcos, and he’s now leading The Mandalorian. And along with Wonder Woman 1984, His notable film credits include Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Equalizer 2, If Beale Street Could Talk and Triple Frontier. So in the long run, Pascal’s done quite well for himself, arguably more so than if he’d been locked into the Wonder Woman TV series for several seasons, if not its entire run.
While Maxwell Lord was initially best known in the DC Comics canon for his connection to the Justice League International, over the last several decades, he’s become a prominent player in Wonder Woman’s corner of the DC universe. For Wonder Woman 1984, Lord is a charismatic businessman and informercial mogul who craves a different kind of power. While we still don’t know the full scope of his machinations yet, it will involve him allying himself with Kristen Wiig’s Barbara Minerva, who starts out as Diana Prince’s friend, but eventually becomes her adversary too and transforms into The Cheetah.
You can see Pedro Pascal bring Maxwell Lord to life when Wonder Woman 1984 drops in theaters and on HBO Max on Christmas Day (use the following link to sign up for the streaming service if you’re not already subscribed). Keep track of the DCEU movies slated for the coming years with our comprehensive guide.
