The future of the DC movie universe seems more wide open than ever, but there is one thing fans can count on: the arrival of Wonder Woman 1984 will take Diana's story in a brand new, bold, gloriously glam direction. And when Screen Rant visited the Leavesden, UK set of the Wonder Woman sequel, it became clear how much this movie will surprise audiences... while also staying true to what made the first movie stand apart from the crowd.
At the time the production was typically tight-lipped and scant on spoilers, plot details, or explanations for some of the biggest lingering questions (concerning both heroes and villains of the story). In the months since that set visit, things have changed considerably. The arrival of the coronavirus pandemic saw release dates pushed across the industry, meaning director Patty Jenkins and co. were forced to wait even longer than expected for a delayed Wonder Woman release. Just don't call 1984 a straight sequel to either that first film, or star Gal Gadot's appearances in the subsequent Justice League movie. This movie is a story all its own, spinning out of the heartbreak and hope for the future that defined Diana (and Steve Trevor) in her solo movie debut.
Speaking with Jenkins, Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, executive producer Charles Roven, and more, we learned a lot about what this movie is and is not. So with little fear of spoilers, here's everything we learned on the Wonder Woman 1984 set.
Diana's Life Since The First Movie Isn't Glorious
When she isn't saving the world, Diana works for the Smithsonian in cultural anthropology. She's lonely, since she wants something more valuable and harder to find than the people around her. Audiences have already seen the kind of heroics she undertakes in early trailers, foiling a "heist" at a shopping mall, crashing in through a skylight, defeating thugs, and saving a little girl before leaving with a wink. That sequence is intended to show Wonder Woman at her most powerful and feel-good, expected to be a battle that leaves the audience smiling. But her story isn't all smiles in private.
During the set visit, Diana's apartment in the historic Watergate Hotel spoke volumes about her current lifestyle. While the apartment is decorated like a wealthy, tasteful woman of the 1980s, it's cold, without any human touches. Nice dining room table, but it's covered with paperwork and research since Diana never entertains. Her bedroom, like most of her other rooms, is grey, furnished with class, but feeling uninhabited. The bookshelves show she's been keeping up on works events as well as history beyond Themyscira. And her small room of radios, VCRs, and TV sets shows she's keeping a close eye on world events to know where she is needed. Beyond that, the windows along almost the entire length of two sides of the apartment drive home the “eagle's nest” idea of Diana wanting to keep watch from the Watergate.
The Amazons Still Get To Shine (in a Flashback)
The movie will get a chance to return to Themyscira, with a sequence opening on a glorious golden stadium on one of the island's cliffs. This is the Amazon Olympics (an unofficial name), a competition that is a blend between American Ninja Warrior, Extreme Sports, and Cirque du Soleil. It's great news for fans of the Amazons from the first movie, since these feats are intended to showcase the women as strong, skilled, fearless, elegant, and all around incredible. The games lead up to an all-star competition of the very best Amazon athletes (dressed in bodysuits made in gold). And last among the line of tall, strong women… is Diana, just ten years old (the young Diana actress Lilly Aspell is back from the first movie, and the only stunt she doesn't do herself is jumping on a running horse). The competition involves the Amazons climbing obstacles, scaling ramps and water, running on top of poles, diving off the cliff, swimming to land and racing horses back to the stadium. No word on who wins, but “lessons are learned.” Keep that in mind.
The visiting press had a chance to see the set itself in the Leavesden backlot, having been filmed the previous day. With some of the surrounding blue screens still in place, the obstacle course described by Production Designer Aline Bonetto is standing in separate parts of one massive construction site filled with sand. First there is a stone block the crew calls “the cheese block” which leads into a jungle gym athletes need to climb, spin, and rip through. Next to it are three huge ramps made to look like blocks of stone: one steep which they were doing backflips off of, one slightly shallower they were trying to climb, and the third built into steps (which apparently has water flowing down them to make it harder to climb). These curved ramps are the bases of the massive “ribs” arcing up into the sky, creating the most eye catching feature of the stadium shown in concept art. Next were a set of spinners, long poles mounted between supports to allow it to spin, with one side weighted, the other fitted with handholds. There are three, including one smaller one for Diana. Next is a field of 10 meter-tall poles capped with gold and metal that athletes must jump their way across, starting with 6 or 7 and row by row shrinking to just two.
Finally, the athletes must jump from the final pole to the long,curved stone ramp “diving board” they must run up and leap off into the sea. A callback to Diana's cliff dive from the first movie, perhaps, but also effective in showing audiences just how Amazons sharpen the skills on display in the first film, as well.
The Villain Max Lord is All About Magic AND Greed
Maxwell Lord (not actually named during our set visit) is the man selling people what they want. He's a self-obsessed, desperate huckster selling the American Dream through infomercials. Glamor, success, and beauty are all possible for a price (confirmed to feel and appear as a big pyramid scheme). But over time, his pitch starts to get people's attention. The movie's big threat stems from this mission of Max's to give everyone exactly what they want, which itself is an encapsulation of the 1980s, as chosen and depicted by Jenkins. Because once everyone in the world starts getting exactly what they want, all at the same time, things spin out of control.
Executive producer Charles Roven clarifies that Lord is selling people riches, even if they don't have enough money. He's not in it for wealth, since his clothing and riches are ill-fitting, and more of a performance than. For granting their wish, he will take any amount of money a person has. But before audiences assume he is outright evil, or magical himself (this is a movie series populated by gods, after all), Lord ends up struggling with the challenge of what he is pitching to people. When asked if there's some supernatural explanation for Lord's power and ability, Roven says that's a story best left to the movie itself, progressing at is own pace, towards its own conclusion. And just as important when it comes to conflict for Diana to handle, one of his believers is none other than Diana's own coworker and friend.
Cheetah's Story is Like Catwoman's, But More Extreme
Barbara Minerva is a brilliant gemologist who works alongside Diana at the Smithsonian. She is sweet, intelligent, funny - Diana likes her. Her apartment, also on display for visiting press, is basically the opposite of Diana's, unequivocally the bedroom of a 1980s working young woman (and guaranteed to be a strong injection of nostalgia for moviegoers). It's as if the '80s vomited all over the apartment, but in a completely genuine, heartfelt way. Pictures of family, clear signs of her enjoying music, movies, and TV populate ever wall and surface. The feeling among the crew is that Barbara is going to be the person a lot of people will feel is relatable... so maybe her problems and desires will too? Also, her ground floor apartment is in Georgetown, which is of an older American tradition than Diana's - but still geographically close to Wonder Woman, making Barbara one of the humans being literally watched over by Diana from her Watergate nest.
Of course, Barbara lacks the social skills and grace of Diana, so is understandably tempted by Maxwell Lord's sales pitch. And at first, it actually seems to be working perfectly, as teaser videos show Barbara becoming more confident, stronger, more seen, and powerful. But as comic book fans know, her transformation soon starts to take a darker turn. While there were no glimpses offered of Kristen Wiig's actual Cheetah design at its peak of animalistic anger, her journey was likened to that of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle in Tim Burton's Batman Returns. From an empowered, confident, and reckless woman to a savage, vicious creature - the Cheetah. And before long, that same twist starts to take hold on the entire world, as dreams turn to nightmares. Which is bad news for Diana...
The Return of Steve Trevor is Diana's Next Lesson
Obviously, the biggest question posed in the movie is the return of Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, a war hero killed during the first movie. By this point, movie fans have seen enough references to 'desires made real' and 'dreams coming true' to imagine the why and how of Steve's return. In short, it is everything that Diana's life is missing. The actual plot steps that connect Lord's magic to the return of Steve Trevor haven't been revealed, but the trailers confirm it will be a chance for more chemistry and comedy between Pine and Gadot. For a while, at least.
Considering that all other wishes, desires, and dreams are shown to be a bad idea, or soon turn into something much darker, the return of Steve Trevor carries an air of uncertainty. With the filmmakers mentioning that the flashback to Diana's younger days will tech her an important lesson, the choice presented by the 1980s plot can be guessed at. With her heart's greatest desire to have Steve back at any cost... while also knowing that it is inherently not right, Diana will face her most difficult decision yet. No wonder this plot is one that Patty Jenkins thought up during the first movie (and who knows what she has in mind for the plot of Wonder Woman 3).
Wonder Woman's New Armor is Real (And Misunderstood)
The iconic Wonder Woman costume suit is brighter, as is evident in both set photos and marketing materials, intended to match the overall style and aesthetic of the era (more than any overt change from the previous version). The suit does look brighter and less aged in person, with metal accents that have more elements of silver to the gold than the aged copper or brass. It also seems to have a bit more texture and contouring to mimic the stomach and ribs, probably a byproduct of its new pliability. There are also no more leather straps, since Diana isn't using her sword or shield in the film, but her lasso alone. Fear not, there will be new attacks on display as well, from swinging on lightning to creating cyclonic blasts. Then of course, there is the new suit now revealed in stunning marketing images.
A large suit of golden armor with eagle helm and wings, pulled straight out of the comics, the Golden Eagle Armor is the showpiece when it comes to new additions to the second movie. The underlayer is made from screen printing a feather-like pattern onto fabric in polyurethane (the same tech used to make the new bodysuits for the Amazon athletes), since, believe it or not, Gal Gadot actually will wear a physical version of the suit on screen. The armor plating and articulated wings are said to weigh hundred of pounds, so how much they'll be able to film practically and how much will be scanned for a digital model isn't a guarantee. But with the ability to store the wings on her back, spread them out to fly like a hanglider, or use them as a weapon since the feathers themselves are razor sharp, the wings can do more than act as a shield. Now, where Diana finds this armor? That is the real mystery.
Don't Expect Any Connections To Justice League or The DCEU
Charles Roven explains the period setting for WW84 by saying that the modern films were stemmed from Zack Snyder’s progression in his own movies, from Man of Steel into Justice League. But when it came to Wonder Woman, her story had to start on Themyscira. From there, the setting needed to say the most for her own type of hero. Unlike other heroes, Diana was born knowing that she wanted to do exactly what she does as Wonder Woman. She saw her mother and aunt and thought what they did was noble and honorable. The setting of World War I worked because it was the first war where people killed each other from a distance, with machines. No nobility, and no honor to it (directly aimed at the idea of Diana as a hero).
Since there was no reason to feel locked in to having to pick up where Justice League ended, they decided to focus the film on her development since audiences last saw her. She's living a spartan, monk-ish life. She is still making efforts to help people when she can, and has the energy of doing what she was brought here to do… but incredible sadness, too. Her biggest struggle in the movie is dealing with the truth of her own emotional desires vs. doing what's right -- so forget about connective tissue to other films being forced into the plot.
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The excitement for the coming of Wonder Woman 1984 may have the ongoing pandemic to contend with, with with more details bound to arrive during DC's FanDome event on August 22nd, don't expect the conversation (or rumors, speculation, and ideas for the next sequel to slow any time soon).
