DC Studios co-head James Gunn took to Twitter to respond to the chaotic news that broke yesterday about Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 not moving forward and other DC changes. You can see the tweets below.
In regards to the news that came out yesterday, including buzz that the newly announced Henry Cavill may or may not reprise Superman as well other possible turnover of DC stars and franchises, Gunn says today “some of it is true, some of it half-true, some of it is not true, and some of it we haven’t decided yet whether it’s true or not.”
Granted, the optics of Gunn and Peter Safran’s arrival at the studio, and the deep-sixing of Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 treatment doesn’t look good optically in the wake the diversity-led-and behind-the-scenes Batgirl getting killed, (that decision made by Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav). However, we’re hearing that Jenkins was given the chance to take another stab at a Wonder Woman 3 treatment after receiving notes from all Warner Bros. motion picture brass (it wasn’t just Gunn and Safran’s decision). There were concerns about character arcs and payoffs, and the threequel emulating similar structural problems ala Wonder Woman 1984. She decided to take her toys and go home. The studio would like to do another Wonder Woman, however, the question is will Gal Gadot do it sans Jenkins. Warners’ intent was never to be sexist, rather, the blowing up of Wonder Woman 3 came down to creative differences. Her tweet a day before yesterday’s chaotic news makes it sound like she’s still game.
Gunn continues, and true, when a new studio head or football coach comes in they want to make it their own thing and not pick up anyone’s scraps. Hard steps here for creating synergy. He says “Peter & I chose to helm DC Studios knowing we were coming into a fractious environment, both in the stories being told & in the audience itself & there would be an unavoidable transitional period as we moved into telling a cohesive story across film, TV, animation, and gaming.”
“But, in the end, the drawbacks of that transitional period were dwarfed by the creative possibilities & the opportunity to build upon what has worked in DC so far & to help rectify what has not,” the Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy franchise director goes on.
“We know we are not going to make every single person happy every step of the way, but we can promise everything we do is done in the service of the STORY & in the service of the DC CHARACTERS we know you cherish and we have cherished our whole lives,” Gunn says.
“As for more answers about the future of the DCU, I will sadly have to ask you to wait. We are giving these characters & the stories the time & attention they deserve & we ourselves still have a lot more questions to ask & answer,” Gunn concludes.
Word is Gunn and Safran are giving a download to Zaslav and talent reps before the holiday in regards to their grand design.