Chris Pine was “stunned” when Wonder Woman 3 was canned. The move seemingly confirmed that Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins were not in the cards to return in James Gunn’s DCU.
In an interview with Business Insider about his directorial debut, Poolman, Pine revealed his reaction to the film being axed. After all, the first two Wonder Woman films grossed a cumulative $992.5 million at the box office. However, the creative changes with Gunn and Peter Sarfan taking over the then-DCEU resulted in certain properties being axed.
“I’m stunned that they said no to a billion-dollar franchise and decided to pivot elsewhere,” Pine said. “I don’t know what the reasoning was behind that; it’s above my pay grade, but Wonder Woman is an incredible character; Patty is such a thoughtful director.”
Even if a third film is made, Pine would be cheering from the bleachers.
“Me. No. Homie is dead. Steve [Trevor] is gonzo,” Pine told the outlet. “It would be ridiculous to try to bring me back.”
Ironically, Pine wasn’t going to be in Wonder Woman 1984 before Jenkins convinced him otherwise. Steve Trevor initially died in the first film and was brought back after being resurrected in a different man’s body. But it was Jenkins’ Casablanca pitch that got him on board.
“I had no interest in playing the boyfriend, and it sounded like second fiddle,” he confessed. “Then, in talking to Patty, the way she described it was, ‘Forget the superhero of it all, this is a romance, this is Casablanca, that’s the movie I want to make.’ I was like, oh, now that is very cool because when have you seen a superhero movie that was a love story, ultimately? That had nothing to do with blowing s**t up.”
Who did Chris Pine play in Wonder Woman?
In Patty Jenkins’ 2017 Wonder Woman, Pine played Steve Trevor. He is an American pilot and Diana’s (Gal Gadot) love interest in the film. Steve dies in battle in a heroic move.
As noted, he returns in the 2020 sequel. It’s not the real Steve Trevor so much as a resurrected version using a random man as a surrogate.
Wonder Woman was a massive hit. It remains one of the lone highlights of the DCEU’s run. The film is the highest-grossing film domestically in the entire franchise, making $412.5 million during its run.
However, both Aquaman ($1.1 billion) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($874 million) topped Wonder Woman at the worldwide box office.
Until Barbie came out in 2023, Wonder Woman was also the highest-grossing film directed solely by a woman (Frozen, its sequel, and Captain Marvel were co-directed by women).
And still, the DCU will not be moving forward with a Wonder Woman 3. Yes, the films were originally under Zack Snyder’s DCEU regime, but James Gunn and Peter Safran are evidently not interested in moving forward with the series for now.
Whether or not Chirs Pine, Gal Gadot, and Patty Jenkins ever return in any capacity remains to be seen. At this point, if they did, it’d leave DC fans “stunned.”
Andrew Korpan is the lead entertainment editor and film critic for ClutchPoints. Residing in Philadelphia, Andrew is an award-winning journalist with previous bylines at Collider, Above the Line, and Below the Line.
