Michelle MacLaren is lassoing herself away from the Wonder Woman set.
Due to "creative differences," Warner Bros. and the director have parted ways on the DC superhero flick starring Gal Gadot, the studio said in a statement Monday.
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It's an unfortunate end to a too-good-to-be-true scenario. MacLaren was a frontrunner to direct the film ever since it was announced. The Emmy-winning director has an eye for dramatic material, helming some of the darkest episodes of Breaking Bad (which she also executive-produced). On top of that, she's also directed episodes of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Better Call Saul.
That's one hell of a TV resume. Wonder Woman would have been her first feature film, and the first superhero film to be directed by a woman. Everything was falling perfectly into place -- until the creative differences came along.
This exact situation has played out once before. In 2011, Patty Jenkins (the writer and director of Monster) was tapped to direct Thor 2, but dropped out due to creative differences (the catch-all reason strikes again). The sequel, Thor: The Dark World was eventually directed by Alan Taylor.
There is a slight silver lining to this situation, though. Heavy rumors are floating around that MacLaren is now free to potentially direct 2018's Captain Marvel
Michelle MacLaren for CAPTAIN MARVEL yes let's make this happen.— Linda Ge (@lindazge) April 13, 2015
Hey, Marvel, a really good director is now available for Captain Marvel… Just saying, you might want to call Michelle MacLaren.— Eric Goldman (@EricIGN) April 13, 2015
Marvel has two female writers for Captain Marvel and now Michelle Maclaren is free. Hmm, that's awfully good timing.— Percy Kittens Winsom (@BornOnAFunyun) April 13, 2015
Either way, DC is out of a director for Wonder Woman. Naturally, we have a few suggestions, from surefire Oscar winners to wildcard options. Here are 12 female directors, and one honorable mention, who would do Diana Prince proud.
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