Greg Berlanti could be about to add some wonder to The CW, as news arrives that the Arrowverse boss is developing a ‘Wonder Girl’ series for the US network.
Based on DC characters created by Joëlle Jones, the one-hour drama would follow Yara Flor, a Latina Dreamer who was born of an Amazonian Warrior and a Brazilian River God. She learns that she is Wonder Girl and with her newfound power must fight the evil forces that would seek to destroy the world.
The name “Wonder Girl” has been used by a number of DC characters over the years, including by the young “Wonder Woman”, Diana Prince, in the 40s/50s, Donna Troy from the 60s to the 90s, and Cassie Sandsmark, who first appeared in 1996. Yara Flor is a new creation. So new in fact, that she isn’t due to appear in the pages of DC Comics until 2021 in the “Future State” run, which will see some all-new characters taking up the iconic mantles of some DC heroes. So in the comic books, Yara Flor is actually the new “Wonder Woman” rather than “Wonder Girl”.
The potential new series comes from Dailyn Rodriguez, who has previously worked on shows such as ‘Ugly Betty’, ‘Lie To Me’, ‘90210’, and ‘Queen of the South’ where she served as showrunner on the final few seasons. Rodriguez would write and exec produce the series alongside Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and David Madden for Berlanti Productions, in association with WBTV.
Berlanti’s Arrowverse has won acclaim for bringing diversity to its roster of small-screen superheroes. These have included the first openly gay lead superhero character on-screen with ‘Batwoman’, DC’s first black-led cast with ‘Black Lightning’, and Nia Nal/Dreamer (Nicole Maines) as the first transgender superhero on television. ‘Wonder Girl’ would add to that with the first Latina lead character in a DC superhero show.
There has been an interesting shift recently with the print DC Comics and the on-screen versions of their characters. Previously, we’ve seen characters such as Arrow’s John Diggle, and the infamous Harley Quinn, first appear on-screen, become fan-favourites, then transition over to the comic books. Now it seems the print and screen teams are working more closely together to better align those introductions. In addition to Yara Flor, Ryan Wilder, who is soon to take over the mantle of ‘Batwoman’ in the second season of the tv show, made a surprise appearance in Batgirl #50 in print before she makes her screen debut in 2021.
The ‘Wonder Girl’ series is still classed as “in development” at the moment, and there is not casting, but we’ll let you know if it moves forward.