‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Director Patty Jenkins On The Inclusion Of Cheetah

Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins opened up about Kristen Wiig's Cheetah!

Kristen Wiig Wonder Woman 1984 Patty Jenkins Cheetah

Patty Jenkins discussed the inclusion of Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984 and the character almost appearing in the first film.

The first Wonder Woman movie took the world by storm and instantly became a family classic, inspiring and empowering women around the globe. Wonder Woman was lauded by critics and fans, but was missing something very important: a great villain. David Thewlis played Ares, the God of War and Diana Prince’s evil older brother, and while his performance was solid, the CGI was a lot to take in. The entire third act of the film was hindered by the special effects and Ares looked like a video game character. However, it turns out that the film almost featured Cheetah, another iconic Wonder Woman villain.

Cheetah is one of the villains of the highly-anticipated sequel Wonder Woman 1984, with Kristen Wiig playing the iconic DC Comics character. While Cheetah doesn’t appear to be the main villain of the movie, she will definitely be a force to be reckoned with. Back in 2018, Heroic Hollywood visited the set of Wonder Woman 1984 and got the chance to sit down with Patty Jenkins and discuss how many of her ideas for the sequel actually made it in. Here’s what she had to say:

“You know, what I wanted this movie to be about was pretty clear fairly early on” said Jenkins. “It’s one of those things where I found myself saying there was something about what the world wants to talk about right now, and she happens to have this lasso of truth, and truth ends up figuring in very large. And so yeah, it all started coming together then, and then the different plot things, and Cheetah, and knowing we wanted Cheetah – I think we even talked about wanting Cheetah to show up in the beginning of the last movie cause we were going to even plant her in the first one. It was kind of forming up for a long time.”

Cheetah has been depicted as a pretty frightening villain. She’s a humanoid Cheetah that’s bloodthirsty and looks like something out of a horror movie. To top things off, she’s mean and envious towards Diana and other heroes, making her someone not to be trifled with. This makes for a bit of fun and Jenkins wanted to explore just what makes Barbara Minerva tick.

“You know, not unlike, I think, when I did Wonder Woman in the first place, I was kind of looking at the core… like, emotion of what it is. And I feel like Cheetah is the same where there have been many physical manifestations of Cheetah, but but the core has always been the same, which is someone who wishes they could be like these other superheroes and gods, and that already is kind of emotion run amuck; that’s already a little dangerous because what are they wishing for? Not necessarily to save the world. So I think that all stays very much in tune with the core. And what it looks like, yea I mean it’s gotta be its own new chapter of badass, you know? And so it’s more influenced by horror I guess than a silly hero, you know, than being silly. It’s not that silly.”

What do you think of Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah being the main villain of Wonder Woman 1984? Do you think she should have appeared in the first Wonder Woman? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below!

Full details on the Wonder Woman 1984 plot are being kept under wraps, but the film is said to follow Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince as she comes into conflict with a formidable new adversary in Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah and a businessman named Maxwell Lord.

Directed by Patty Jenkins from a script she co-wrote with David Callaham and a treatment she developed with Geoff Johns, the film stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Natasha Rothwell, Ravi Patel, Gabriella Wilde, Connie Nielson, and Robin Wright.

Here is the official synopsis for the first Wonder Woman film:

Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny.

The first film is now available on Digital HD, Blu-Ray, and DVD while Wonder Woman 1984 will be released in theaters on October 2, 2020. Stay tuned for more updates regarding Patty Jenkins, Kristen Wiig and Cheetah. Also, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!

Nathaniel Brail

Nathaniel Brail

Running things at HH. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @NateBrail