Wonder Woman 1984 Director Patty Jenkins Set Up Cheetah’s Future in Sequel With Ambiguous Ending

Now that Wonder Woman 1984 has debuted in theaters and on HBO Max and the film having been enjoyed by nearly half of all subscribers to the streaming service, audiences are starting to wonder what’s next for not just the film’s titular heroine, but for her iconic comic book antagonist who received her big live-action debut in the film, Barbara Minerva/Cheetah (Kristen Wiig). The character’s fate is left a bit ambiguous and according to director Patty Jenkins, it’s deliberate.

Warning: spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 below.

In Wonder Woman 1984, Barbara transforms from awkward, lonely, and frumpy scientist to, ultimately an apex predator thanks to the Dreamstone — an object imbued with the power from the God of Lies to grant wishes but at extreme cost — and the last we see of her she’s been defeated by Wonder Woman and, presumably having renounced her wish, no longer in her Cheetah form as she looks out at the horizon. Because it’s not clear what Barbara does next, it potentially leaves the door open for more stories involving Cheetah and Jenkins explained in an interview with CinemaBlend there may or may not be more to come.

“I have my reasons for making it ambiguous,” Jenkins said. “And I think it’s not clear, her point of view on everything that just happened. I love that we wrap up Max Lord’s point of view and that you see the culmination of that storyline. I think it’s so important. But the truth is there may or may not be more to come, and reasons for that.”

She continued, “it’s complicated, what goes on with Barbara. There was not an easy scene, even if the answer was one way or the other, even if it was that she did rescind wish, like then what? She goes back to her normal life and n ow Diana is not there anymore? It would take time and it would be a big deal to try to culminate it one way or the other. So, there were multiple reasons for doing it that way. And if it leaves you wanting more answers, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Jenkins stopped short of saying that more answers would come, but on Sunday Warner Bros did confirm that Wonder Woman 3 was officially a go.

“As fans around the world continue to embrace Diana Prince, driving the strong opening weekend performance of Wonder Woman 1984, we are excited to be able to continue her story with our real life Wonder Women — Gal and Patty — who will return to conclude the long-planned theatrical trilogy, Warner Bros. chief Toby Emmerich said in a statement.

Wonder Woman 1984 is in theaters and on HBO Max now.