Why Cheetah’s Ending Is Handled That Way In Wonder Woman 1984
SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984. If you have not yet had the chance to watch the film, continue at your own risk!
Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah has one of the strongest arcs in Wonder Woman 1984, transforming from a lonely, nerdy scientist to a bold, selfish killer, but you probably noticed that the conclusion was left a bit open ended. The titular heroine successfully defeats her in combat before facing off with Max Lord, and there is a final glimpse of her that lets the audience know that she turns back to human form, but not much information is provided beyond that – including what happens to her in the aftermath of the chaos, and whether or not she rescinded her wish. You may find yourself asking a lot of questions, but per director Patty Jenkins that’s definitely intentional.
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of participating in what turned into a rather spoiler-heavy roundtable interview with the filmmaker and Wonder Woman 1984 star Gal Gadot, and one of the topics broached in the conversation concerned Cheetah’s fate. While she didn’t exactly go deep into details, Jenkins explained that there are reasons why things are left mysterious, saying.
While she didn’t come out and directly say it, that seems like a pretty strong hint that audiences haven’t seen the last of Kristen Wiig as Barbara Ann Minerva, and that there exists the possibility that we could see more of her in a Wonder Woman 3. That would certainly make sense given that she is considered in the comics to be Diana’s archvillain (the Joker to her Batman, the Lex Luthor to her Superman). The only real issue that emerges is Wonder Woman 1984’s period setting – assuming that the sequel would do another time jump and tell a story featuring the eponymous heroine in the present.
As Patty Jenkins went on to explain, however, the end of Cheetah’s story in the blockbuster isn’t just about keeping options for the future. Being honest, she explained that it was a tricky thing to try and find a way to give closure to that character without accidentally derailing the ending for Wonder Woman, which always had to be the primary focus. Jenkins explained,
Will we get to see Cheetah in Wonder Woman 3 (whenever that movie gets made)? We’ll just have to wait and see, but for now we here at CinemaBlend still have a ton more Wonder Woman 1984 content coming your way on the site, so stay tuned!
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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.