Report: DC Axes Paradise Lost as Wonder Woman Reboot Takes Shape
Paradise Lost is reportedly off the table as DC pivots to a big-screen Wonder Woman reboot, with Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira penning the script.
DC Studios under James Gunn and Peter Safran likes to swing big. Some of those swings connect, some drift into the fog, but the ambition is there. Now it sounds like one of the early Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters shows, 'Paradise Lost' — the Amazon-focused prequel series set on Themyscira before Diana — has quietly gone away. And that says a lot about where DC might be steering Wonder Woman next.
'Paradise Lost' sounds... lost
Industry watcher John Rocha says the show is no longer moving forward after DC met with writers and took pitches. His wording leaves little wiggle room:
'Sources are telling me that DC was meeting with writers for Paradise Lost, was taking pitches for Paradise Lost, but they’ve been informed that the project is dead. Paradise Lost is dead. [It] will not be happening as a TV show.'
'They’re being told... this project is now dead, no longer an active development. Dead.' He also notes plenty of fans found it odd to do a Themyscira series without Wonder Woman.
Officially, DC hasn’t announced a cancellation. Unofficially, this tracks with the studio reshuffling pieces across Gods and Monsters since that first big reveal, which also included bold picks like Clayface, Swamp Thing, The Authority, and Waller. Some of those are still alive, others are circling, and a few feel MIA.
So what is in the mix right now?
The lineup floating around looks different than it did a year ago, with these projects repeatedly popping up as in the works for film and TV:
- Clayface
- Lanterns
- Man of Tomorrow
- Blue Beetle
- DC Crime (please, find another title)
- Mister Miracle
Wonder Woman: reset mode?
There’s chatter that 'Supergirl' scribe Ana Nogueira is writing a new Wonder Woman movie. If true, shelving 'Paradise Lost' could be DC clearing the deck to reintroduce Diana properly on the big screen rather than detouring with a prequel show. Kind of wild that one of DC’s Trinity doesn’t have a clear relaunch roadmap yet, but here we are.
The Gadot and Jenkins of it all
Gal Gadot’s first 'Wonder Woman' smashed to $822.9 million worldwide. I still think that movie is two-thirds terrific. The sequel? Wrong place, wrong time. 'Wonder Woman 1984' walked into a global pandemic, so any box-office autopsy there needs a dozen asterisks. We’ll never know what it might have done in normal conditions.
As for Patty Jenkins, she went from directing one of DC’s biggest winners to basically vanishing from the franchise. Her 'Rogue Squadron' movie remains a speck on the horizon, and she’s now attached to a new project with Universal and the Lego Group. I wouldn’t bet on her steering DC’s next Wonder Woman, and it doesn’t look like DC is betting on that either.
Who wears the tiara next?
Word is Gunn wants a clean slate for the character. Melissa Barrera’s name keeps getting tossed around (with a public nod from Simu Liu, for what that’s worth). If DC truly is moving on from Gadot, that tracks with the broader reset vibe across the slate.
Bottom line: if Rocha’s intel holds, 'Paradise Lost' is out, and DC is pivoting to reboot Wonder Woman the old-fashioned way — with a movie. We’re still waiting on official word, but the Amazonian plans are clearly in flux.