Chromatic Casting: David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman

Steve Trevor is a major factor in Diana’s life. Trevor is also the key motivator for her not only leaving the island, but coming to LA. He’s the LOVE of her life. It’s great to see Wonder Woman with a love interest. My concern is it’s just such a big part of her story. That and that she moons like a teenager (She’s supposed to be early 30s) over him. This love has kicked her ass according to Kelley’s script. She’s “Like a deer in the headlights” when she sees him. “Death” it says in the script as she hears his romantic status. Why can’t we just have a fun Diana who is like a female Bruce Wayne dating a new guy or girl every week? Having her so attached to one person is another example of the small scope of the show.

Based on this, Trevor’s character seems to be the trickiest: based on Kelley’s prior efforts, he’s probably going to be written as a well-meaning alpha male around just about everybody but Diana. And in true Kelley tradition, he’s going to be a lawyer. So you need somebody who can command attention, while still being sympathetic (and, also as per Kelley tradition, maybe a bit shady, too.)

Steve Trevor: Ian Anthony Dale

I gave The Event a shot when it debuted, but when almost nothing of interest happened in the premiere, I walked away. That said, Dale’s character, Agent Simon Lee, stood out by being … well, halfway interesting. He could fare better as a romantic lead, while the character would allow him to retain some action-hero swagger.

(Aside: What about Boris Kodjoe from Undercovers, you ask? Well, he and co-star Gugu Mbatha-Raw are my own Chromatic Iron Man & Pepper Potts. Just saying.)

Myndi Main: Dichen Lachman

Lachman’s emergence as Priya/Sierra on Dollhouse was one of the series’ highlights, even if her character went through the most severely messed-up backstory in the series. So playing Diana’s girl Friday might give Lachman a chance to do something more fun, for a change. And, hey, if the tempo needs to be changed, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Etta Candy: Miracle Laurie Here’s where things start getting confusing. Etta dates back to the 1940s, and has been written over the years as being weight-conscious, which could prove problematic. I went with Laurie, who played Mellie/November on Dollhouse, out of hope that she both gets to play a more size-positive version of Etta, positioned here as Diana’s personal assistant – and that later on we get to discover Etta is actually a spy assigned to shadow her, which would allow Laurie to get in on the action.

Veronica Cale: Indira Varma

Cale, put simply, is Diana’s personal Lex Luthor – brilliant, ruthless, and ego-driven. Keeping in mind that Luthor is at his best when written to be graceful, you need an actress that smartens up any scene, and Varma’s recent run on BBC shows like Torchwood and Luther showed all of those sides. She’s been appearing on ABC’s Human Target adaptation, but would getting the chance to play a true Big Bad lure her to jump ship? We hope so.

These are all the primary characters we know about right now, so from this point on it’s all a roll of the dice. Diana’s got more potentially screen-ready rogues than you might imagine, but it’s all a matter of having the chance to get to them. It should also be noted that I’m sticking with the more “classic” comic-book versions of the characters, instead of the ones used in J. Michael Straczynski’s recent truncated reboot.

Cheetah: Dania Ramírez

The character got some shine in the various SuperFriends cartoons in the late 1970s, but for this version, we’re going with Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, an archaeologist whose rivalry with Diana escalates from simply wanting to steal her Lasso of Truth into something more personal. Add to that the werewolf-like pain Minerva’s super-fast alter-ego causes her, and becomes the kind of wild-card that could cause real damage.

Page 2 of 3 | Previous page | Next page