Wonder Woman's Gal Gadot Speaks Out For First Time Over Cleopatra Casting

Wonder Woman 1984 is finally hitting theatres and HBO Max tomorrow, but it's not the last time Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins will be working together. Back in October, it was announced that Gadot would be playing the titular role in Cleopatra with Jenkins directing a script from Laeta Kalogridis. However, there was a lot of controversy surrounding the decision. Many people felt the role was being whitewashed and should have gone to a woman of color. While the story of Cleopatra takes place in Egypt, the iconic figure was not actually Egyptian, she was Greek. Gadot, who is Israeli, has finally spoken out against the backlash and argued in favor of her casting.

"First of all if you want to be true to the facts then Cleopatra was Macedonian," Gadot told BBC Arabic's Sam Asi. "We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn't there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra."

Gadot added, "I have friends from across the globe, whether they're Muslims or Christian or Catholic or atheist or Buddhist, or Jewish of course... People are people, and with me I want to celebrate the legacy of Cleopatra and honour this amazing historic icon that I admire so much."

She concluded, "You know, anybody can make this movie, and anybody can go ahead and do it. I'm very passionate that I'm going to do my own too."

As for Wonder Woman, Gadot recently commented on whether or not there will be a third Wonder Woman movie. When asked, Gadot told Variety, "We have no idea. You never know. I would love to do another one if the story is great and with Patty [Jenkins] of course. But I don't know. We'll have to wait and see." Gadot added that a third movie would be "nice closure."

"We'll see what happens. I really don't know," director Patty Jenkins told The New York Times when asked if a third Wonder Woman might follow Rogue Squadron, her Star Wars feature film just announced at Disney-owned Lucasfilm. "I know that I'd love to do the third one if the circumstances were right and there was still a theatrical model possible. I don't know that I would if there wasn't."

Do you agree with Gadot or do you think someone else should be playing Cleopatra? Tell us in the comments!

Wonder Woman 1984 will be released in select theaters in the United States on Christmas Day, as well as on HBO Max.