Here’s what The CW’s abandoned Wonder Woman show would have looked like. Before the Arrowverse was as big as it is today, the network almost had Wonder Woman join as a Diana Prince-centric project was in the works almost 8 years ago. When it comes to the iconic DC heroine, it was quite a journey for the Amazonian Princess to make it to screen as Warner Bros. struggled to get a Wonder Woman film together prior to Gal Gadot’s current franchise. But the studio’s TV division attempted at bringing Diana to the small screen through two notable projects. One of them is the infamous disaster that NBC was trying to put together with David E. Kelly’s Wonder Woman pilot. But after a nightmarish production, the network ended up passing on the pilot.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

But it didn’t take long for WBTV to try once again to bring a version of Wonder Woman to screen and this time, it was The CW’s turn to try to make it happen. However, unlike the Adrianne Palicki show, The CW was eying a different, but familiar angle as they began developing Amazon. This was a month prior to the series premiere of Arrow, which means that it was a precursor to the creation of the Arrowverse. Allan Heinberg, who actually ended up penning the screenplay for 2017’s Wonder Woman, was attached to depict a new origin story for Diana before she becomes the titular heroine. This would be very similar to the concept that Smallville ran with for 10 seasons before Tom Welling’s Clark Kent became Superman.

Whether or not Amazon would have adopted the rule of never seeing Diana suit-up is unclear, but it’s very possible that during the show’s course, Diana would have taken the steps to become Wonder Woman. The network began to search for their Diana during the pilot season as the script was being worked on. Casting calls went out for “Iris” (which was a codename for Diana) and gave fans an idea of how this version of the future Wonder Woman would be. The casting department was looking for an early-to-mid-20s actress for the part. In this story, Diana had been a soldier for most of her life and never stepped outside Themyscira. But as she begins to discover Man’s World, she’d be very much of a fish out of water.

The casting call stressed that despite Diana’s lack of experience with the rest of the world, she was an outspoken, strong, and confident individual. While it was never confirmed, Steve Trevor supposedly was going to be in Amazon, if leaked audition scenes were any indicator. After Heinberg’s script wasn’t what The CW was looking for, Heroes’ Aron Eli Coleite was hired to redevelop the project. It was always important to CW president Mark Pedowitz that they got this character right before pursuing a pilot order as he was aware of Wonder Woman’s importance. While no one ever got cast as Diana, it appears that Torchwood star Amy Manson was a frontrunner for the DC role. But ultimately, Amazon was just simply not meant to be as The CW officially scrapped all development on it.

In January 2014, Pedowitz confirmed that they were passing on Amazon as the script didn’t get to a satisfying point. By 2017, when the Arrowverse had gotten even bigger, Pedowitz reaffirmed that Amazon would not be revived, especially after the success of Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman film. Had they truly gone in a Smallville direction, Amazon could have been another fascinating DC TV show as viewers could have followed Diana’s origin in depth. While it’s not impossible that Wonder Woman may come to The CW in a couple of years, for the time being, Diana will only be seen in live-action on the big screen. Given how canceled superhero projects end up getting more details out to the public years later, one can only hope that more information about Amazon will eventually emerge on what it could have been for The CW if they had pursued the Wonder Woman prequel.

Key Release Dates
See also  Genshin Impact's New Geo Buffs Are Useful (Even Without Zhongli)
  • Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)Release date: Dec 25, 2020
Stranger Things Season 4: Joe Keery’s Steve Becomes an Action Hero

About The Author


Andy Behbakht
(1049 Articles Published)

Andy is a senior writer at Screen Rant as he has covered the world of entertainment journalism since 2010, including superhero/comic book media. In addition to his work as a reporter, Andy co-hosts The Flash Podcast while running and producing the entire DC TV Podcasts network. He is also the founder/editor-in-chief of The Marvel Report since Fall 2015. Andy has previously written for sites such as FanSided, KSiteTV, TV Fanatic, It’s Just Movies, Heroic Hollywood, TV Overmind, and more.

More From Andy Behbakht