Superheroes are everywhere at the moment, and it’s not going to change any time soon: “Thor,” “Captain America,” “Green Lantern” and “X-Men: First Class” are all hitting screens this summer, with big-hitters “Spider-Man,” “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Superman” following next year. The genre’s even started to infiltrate the small screen again: “Smallville” is wrapping up its tenth and final season, but “No Ordinary Family” and “The Cape” are both currently running, and Guillermo Del Toro is working with Marvel on a new TV show based around The Hulk.
Now, one of the biggest names in comics is returning to the small screen, where she originally crossed over into the mainstream, with the news from Deadline that NBC have ordered a pilot for Amazonian princess-turned-crime fighter “Wonder Woman.” The pilot script, from “Ally McBeal” creator David E. Kelley, made the rounds to the networks in the last few weeks, with most seemingly turning it down, but NBC stepped up, following decent numbers for their Kelley/Kathy Bates show “Harry’s Law.”
The new version of the DC Comics character, inevitably described as a ‘reinvention,’ will see Diana Prince as a corporate executive in LA doubling as a vigilante at night, “trying to balance all the elements of her extraordinary life.” The character has come close to hitting the big screen a number of times in recent years, with “The Avengers” director Joss Whedon being hired by Joel Silver to pen a take at one stage, while model Megan Gale was reportedly cast in the role in George Miller‘s aborted “Justice League: Mortal” movie.
Kelley’s take sounds pretty dismal, but it gets worse: according to Michael Ausiello at TVLine, McG is being courted to direct the pilot. The first-class hack, who resembles what would happen if Christopher McDonald and Harry Knowles had a baby, has racked up plenty of shitty TV work between his movies, on projects like “Fastlane” and “Chuck,” serves as an executive producer on action hits like “Supernatural,” “Human Target” and “Nikita,” and is now reportedly the “odds-on favorite” to direct this pilot.
The director does have a pretty tight schedule; he’s finishing up action-comedy “This Means War” with Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon, and will move on to board game adaptation “Ouija” later in the year, so it’s possible this may not happen, but with the fast turnaround in TV, we’re sure he’ll find room in his schedule. We don’t necessarily mind the existence of the show; we’re pretty apathetic about the character, even if we’d love to see Nicolas Winding Refn‘s promised version instead. But, NBC? If you cancel “Parks and Recreation” or “Community” and put this on the air we’re going to key your invisible jet.
