Patty Jenkins Chose the ’80s for a Key Reason in Wonder Woman 1984

DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures had an unprecedented hit with Wonder Woman, a film that dominated the summer box office despite the bad baggage that surrounded the studio’s superhero films at the time. But director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot made the movie a massive success, and ever since then fans have been clamoring for a sequel. But the new movie will not jump to the present day, but will instead take place in an era that Jenkins has a lot of fondness for.

After the World War I setting of the first film, Jenkins will now explore the Cold War for Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel set in the same year in the title. But why that specific year, and what’s the significance of that era? Jenkins revealed her reasoning on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, explaining why this year in the ’80s was important to the story.

“1984 itself is definitely very evocative to what’s important in that movie and resonates with right now … it was the pinnacle of the success in the 80s.”

Jenkins later added that there was “something about the excess of that period of time, which is so linked up to where we are in the world right now, that it’s set there for a reason.”

Jenkins’ film was originally supposed to come out this year, but was delayed from its November release date to June 2020. And though she originally pushed for that date, but she recently expressed a small amount of regret after seeing a version of the film.

“I was like, you guys, it’s got to be the summer of 2020, like it’s got to be and that’s what I always wanted and now I’ve just screened a version of the film and I’m like ‘oh my god can we move it back up, I’m dying to release this film!’” Jenkins said.

The director also expressed some praise for Gadot’s role in the film and the defining era that’s captured by the character, praising the actors during an interview with Deadline earlier this year.

“It does have that fun pop,” Jenkins said. “She was so great in such a great era and we do get to capture that. The only thing I can tell you is that it went really well, we just finished shooting, and yeah, the actors are incredible. We did a ton of the stuff on wires and it looks mind-blowing.”

Wonder Woman 1984 premieres in theaters on June 5, 2020.