Lynda Carter, who became a television icon as the star of the live-action “Wonder Woman” series from 1975 to 1979, delighted comic book fans when she popped up at the end of Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 1984” as Asteria, a legendary Amazonian warrior previously thought to be dead. The tease led many to believe a third “Wonder Woman” movie would unite Carter and Gal Gadot on the big screen, but the sequel was announced as dead in August 2023.
In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Carter heavily suggested that she would’ve been back as Asteria had Jenkins and Gadot’s “Wonder Woman 3” taken flight at Warner Bros. She described Jenkins’ plans for the sequel as “really interesting, wonderful and about something important. Not just your typical thing.”
“I don’t think they want to do it unless there’s enough pressure from fans,” Carter said about the studio. “I just don’t think they have the mind to do it. And I don’t understand that, because it seems to me that Wonder Woman is different from other characters. She’s not just a superhero. Her whole thing is about peaceful solutions. She’s not aggressive to be aggressive. It’s a different story. It’s about inner strength, outer strength. I don’t know why they tabled it, because it’s a great franchise.”
“I have to give a lot of credit to Patty and Gal because the interest in my show had peaked when they came on the scene” Carter added. “[Their vision] was intentional — and how I played the character was intentional. To be good, kind, strong and do everything for the right reasons. Even when she was angry, she was angry at the right people.”
Carter said that she even has an ongoing group chat with Jenkins and Gadot. “We all embraced each other and we’re very good friends,” she added. “We took the steam right out. ‘No, we love each other.’ ‘Oh, darn.’ Sharing that legacy with someone is wonderful.”
Jenkins said on the “Talking Pictures” podcast last month that her experience with “Wonder Woman” is over “for the time being, easily forever.” She directed both “Wonder Woman” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” making her one of the most prominent female directors in Hollywood.
“They aren’t interested in doing any ‘Wonder Woman’ for the time being,” Jenkins said. “It’s not an easy task, with what’s going on with DC. James Gunn and Peter Safran have to follow their own heart into their own plans. I don’t know what they are planning on doing or why, so I have sympathy for what a big job it is and they have to follow their heart and do what they’ve got planned.”
Jenkins had been developing a third “Wonder Woman” to star Gadot when news broke in December 2022 that their “Wonder Woman 3” had fallen apart after Warner Bros. leadership passed on Jenkins’ treatment for the sequel. Jenkins publicly exited the project. The news hit shortly after James Gunn and Peter Safran took the reins of DC Studios and announced they would be overhauling the DC Universe, which led to speculation that Jenkins had rebuffed efforts to reshape “Wonder Woman 3” to fit into their DC Universe.
“I never walked away,” Jenkins shared in a post on Twitter at the time. “I was open to considering anything asked of me. It was my understanding there was nothing I could do to move anything forward at this time. DC is obviously buried in changes they are having to make, so I understand these decisions are difficult right now.”
Gunn and Safran’s new DC universe will launch with superheroes such as Batman and Supergirl, but Wonder Woman is not yet announced for the new franchise.
