When it comes to upcoming DC movies, you won’t find a Gal Gadot-led Wonder Woman 3 on the docket. That superhero threequel was notably canceled back in 2022. With that director Patty Jenkins’ WW plans were dissolved after the newly formed DC Studios tapped Peter Safran and James Gunn as co-CEOs. Now, the actress known for portraying the queen of the Amazons, Connie Nielsen, is sharing why she thinks the move is a missed opportunity.
Connie Nielsen played Queen Hippolyta a.k.a. the mother of Diana Prince in both Wonder Woman movies as well as both versions of Justice League. She didn't mince words when expressing her bewilderment over the decision to scrap Wonder Woman 3:
I think it’s crazy. I mean, frankly, I don’t understand it. [Wonder Woman] made $800 million just in the movie theaters, and it has an enormous and passionate, passionate fan base. These are spectacular films, and there’s just no reason I can understand whatsoever for not investing in that. If I were a business person, I would say that’s money on the table. It’s right there. Plus every time we’ve done it, [it was] with budgets that were way smaller than any of the other DC budgets.
Connie Nielsen made these comments while speaking to Den of Geek while promoting her 2024 movie release, Gladiator II. She is absolutely correct in terms of Wonder Woman’s commercial success. Gal Gadot's inaugural solo entry in the DC Extended Universe remains the highest grossing DC movie since the Dark Knight sequels due to its $822 million worldwide haul.
While the first WW flick was a massive win for the DC franchise, the sequel, Wonder Woman 1984 didn't fare as well. It was released at the end of 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic was still greatly affecting box office sales. With that, the movie was made available on Max and VOD platforms at the same time as its theatrical release.
Based on her sentiments, Connie Nielsen enjoyed her time working on the Wonder Woman movies, and a lot of care went into making them. She opened up about the specific aspects of the experience she enjoyed and how she developed Hippolyta:
I loved that island, those costumes, those characters, the values that those Amazons represented. It was fantastic. I built that character off real historical and anthropology books on the Amazons, there’s now real DNA evidence that these Amazons really did exist, that there really were famous female warriors, and we now know that burial mounds were where those warriors were buried. They just assumed it was a man because of who the person was buried with. And now they realize, oh, no, DNA analysis shows they were women.
In early 2023, Peter Safran and James Gunn revealed their new DC slate, which included a series set on Themyscira called Paradise Lost, The proposed show will take place years before Diana Prince’s birth and is in “active development,” per Gunn. Jenkins is not involved in the new project as she reportedly works on the Star Wars movie, Rogue Squadron.
During Connie Nielsen’s recent interview, she called the cancellation “a pity” and shared hopes DC will “change their minds.” In her estimation, canning Wonder Woman 3 would cause to the company to leave “a billion dollars” on the table. It currently seems unlikely that the studio will consider putting Patty Jenkins' film back into development, though stranger things have happened within the superhero genre.
Fans can look forward to the DCU film era kicking off amid the 2025 movie schedule with James Gunn's Superman, which will star David Corenswet in the eponymous role. Those who are feeling nostalgic for the DCEU, though, can stream the Wonder Woman movies using a Max subscription.
