WW84 Star Gal Gadot Says Wonder Woman 3 Will Take Place in the Present

After adventures in 1918 and 1984, the just-announced Wonder Woman 3 could bring Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) back into the present-day DC Extended Universe. The long-hidden superheroine stepped out of the shadows in the modern-day DCEU in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where a trinity formed for the first time, before fighting again alongside Batman (Ben Affleck) and a newly resurrected Superman (Henry Cavill) in Justice League. According to franchise star and producer Gadot, who reteams with her Wonder Woman and WW84 director Patty Jenkins on the threequel, it’s time for the character’s next solo film to bring Diana out of the past:

“I wouldn’t go, like, to the ’60s or to the ’40s with Wonder Woman,” Gadot recently told MTV News. “I feel like the past has been handled well, and now it’s time to move on.”

In Wonder Woman 1984, the Amazon superheroine still operates in secret at the height of the Cold War in mid-’80s Washington, D.C. When Diana inadvertently wishes on the newly uncovered Dreamstone, a magical artifact embued with the power to turn wishes into reality, she’s reunited with long-lost love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) nearly 70 years after his heroic death at the end of World War I.

Against the backdrop of the excessive ’80s, Diana and Steve must foil the schemes of greedy swindler Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal). The wannabe tycoon plunges the world into chaos by granting people’s most-wished-for desires, including Barbara Minerva’s (Kristen Wiig) wish to become an apex predator — like nothing there’s ever been before.

Jenkins has already hinted at Cheetah’s return in Wonder Woman 3, which may not use the story she planned with WW84 co-writer Geoff Johns:

“I actually came up with a story, and Geoff Johns and I beat out an entire story for Wonder Woman 3 that we were super fired up about,” Jenkins previously told CinemaBlend. “But I’ve never felt this way before as much as I do now. I don’t think I’m doing it next, and so I sort of have to wait and see where we are in the world. It’s interesting. What I wanted to talk about in this film [WW84] was very prescient to what I was feeling, and what you were feeling, was coming. So now? I’m not sure. So much has changed in the world.”

Jenkins continued, “I still love the story that we came up with. I’m sure that parts of it would come over to it. But I’m trying to say, ‘Don’t decide.’ Don’t fall in love with anything. ‘What would Wonder Woman do now?’ What are you craving Wonder Woman to do in this world?”

Starring Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Pine, Wonder Woman 1984 is now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.