--- description: The studio hired Jenkins in the wake of MacLaren's departure title: The New 'Wonder Woman' Director Means Warner Bros. Is Listening image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b769768a857a821/6987eb05428a9e9169ccae59/gal-gadot-wonder-woman.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The New _Wonder Woman_ Director Means Warner Bros. Is Listening  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Apr 16, 2015 1:19 AM CUT  Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeWarner Bros.  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Apr 16, 2015 1:19 AM CUT Patty Jenkins will [replace](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/wonder-woman-movie-finds-a-789099?utm%5Fcontent=bufferddd7e&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer "undefined") Michelle MacLaren as the director of the 2017 _Wonder Woman_ film, Warner Bros.’ first major female superhero movie in more than a decade, according to the _Hollywood Reporter._ Jenkins has directed episodes of _Entourage_ and _T_ _he Killing_ and made her film debut with the indie _Monster_, which won Charlize Theron an Oscar for Best Actress. Jenkins was at one point slated to be the first woman to direct a film for Warner Bros.’ rival, Marvel Studios. She was tapped for _Thor 2_, but left over “creative differences.” Speculation about whether sexism was involved that decision swirled when reports leaked that Natalie Portman was [“enraged”](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/thor-2-natalie-portman-marvel-patty-jenkins-272978 "undefined") over the departure. The [same questions](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/wonder-woman-movie-loses-director-788500 "undefined") arose when MacLaren — an Emmy-winning director who had built up an impressive résumé directing what are widely considered to be some of the best episodes of _Game of Thrones_, _Breaking Bad_ and _The Walking Dead_ — left the _Wonder Woman_ project. Some critics [grouped](https://thedissolve.com/news/5383-michelle-maclaren-is-no-longer-your-official-wonde/ "undefined") Jenkins’ and MacLaren’s departures together to suggest that studio executives might be barring women from the superhero genre altogether. Jenkins taking the helm could silence [critics](https://twitter.com/Lexialex/status/587774065613471745 "undefined") who just days ago had accused the studio of sexism. (Even Lynda Carter, who portrayed the lasso-wielding hero on the TV show _Wonder Woman_ in the 1970s, [said](http://time.com/3822216/lynda-carter-michelle-maclaren-wonder-woman/ "undefined") the film needed women behind it.) It could also keep the film on track for its 2017 release date — beating out Marvel, which won’t release its first female-centric superhero film, _Captain Marvel_, until 2018\. Gal Gadot, who has proved her grit in the _Fast and Furious_ films, will still star in _Wonder Woman_ as the superpowered Amazonian warrior. Despite the fact that there have been some 50 superhero movies made just in the past 10 years — from _Spider-Man_ to _The Dark Knight_ to _X-Men_ to _The Avengers_ — no woman has directed any of the major films. (Lexi Alexander directed a comic-book-inspired movie, _Punisher: War Zone_, in 2008, but the fan base and box-office numbers come nowhere close to the numbers a _Wonder Woman_ or _Supergirl_ movie might produce.) Last year, [only 7% of the 250 highest-grossing films ](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2014%5Fcelluloid%5Fceiling%5Freport.pdf "undefined")were directed by women, according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. That number has fallen 2% over the past two decades. Even though women consistently take home directing prizes in prestigious festivals like Sundance for art-house films, they’re largely boxed out of the most lucrative genres. There’s been a dearth of female superhero movies over this time period as well. The last attempts were _Catwoman_ and _Elektra_: both films were directed by men, got poor reviews, flopped at the box office and convinced studios for several years that female superhero movies just “don’t work.” But an increasingly vocal female comic-book fan base — [about 50% of San Diego Comic Con’s attendees last year were women](http://time.com/3023606/san-diego-comic-con-avengers-fangirls-booth-babes/ "undefined") — has pushed for greater representation of their sex in both the books and film. And slowly, performances like Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow in _The Avengers_ and Zoe Saldana as Gamora in _Guardians of the Galaxy_ have convinced executives that maybe female characters can build their own fan bases after all. In just the past two years, Warner Bros. [green-lit a _Wonder Woman_ film](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/12/04/and-the-new-wonder-woman-is/ "undefined"), Sony gave the green light to a [female superhero movie based on the _Spider-Man_ universe](http://time.com/3079882/a-female-superhero-movie-is-finally-coming/ "undefined") and Marvel approved a [_Captain Marvel_ flick](http://time.com/3554606/captain-marvel-movie-kelly-sue-deconnick/ "undefined") — for which it [is recruiting](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/captain-marvel-movie-targets-inside-763081 "undefined") an all-female writing duo. MacLaren’s departure might have threatened to slow that momentum, but it looks like Jenkins could, well, save the day. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3824430/wonder-woman-patty-jenkins-new-director/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3824430/wonder-woman-patty-jenkins-new-director/"},"headline":"The New Wonder Woman Director Means Warner Bros. 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