The chaos of the DC Universe has been spreading for quite a long time. According to James Gunn who seems to be restructuring the entire universe, the departure of old actors is absolutely necessary even though it means losing the fanbase.
Gal Gadot is one of the most recent actors to have her status in the DCU as “unconfirmed” after the departure of Henry Cavill. David F. Sandberg, the director of Shazam! Fury of the Gods was dead sure that the actress wouldn’t be included in the future of the DCU. He already had a backup plan ready for such a situation wherein he would bring Hellen Mirren’s character back.
Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman (2017).Shazam Director Wasn’t Sure About Gal Gadot’s Future!
After the success of Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021, people fell in love with the OG trio of Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, and, Gal Gadot. It wasn’t until the shocking departure of Henry Cavill from the DCU that people felt fear of losing any other OG actors from the cinematic universe.
A still from Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023).
It was during these recent times when the new lineup of the DCU was revealed by co-head James Gunn and Peter Safran that the people felt confused. Apparently, there had been no confirmed news of Gal Gadot or Ben Affleck appearing in the newly-made DCU after the announcement by James Gunn. David F. Sandberg, the director of Shazam! Fury of the Gods felt the same when he wanted Gal Gadot’s cameo in the movie.
According to the director, he had a backup plan ready in case the Israeli actress wasn’t confirmed to be a part of the DCU which included bringing back Hellen Mirren’s character.
“So for this one, Wonder Woman was in the script and I was like, ‘It’s not really gonna happen.’ I mean, it makes sense because of the mythology and the Greek gods and everything, but it’s like, ‘I don’t believe it’s gonna happen.’”
The director further continued to talk about his backup plan which included bringing back the character of Helen Mirren, Hespera.
“It’s like, ‘Sure. Yeah.’ So that’s when I started thinking, ‘Okay, so when we don’t get her, how do we solve it?’ Because it’s such a big– we have to have it in the movie. So I was like, ‘Okay, we need some other god then, I guess. Can we have [Helen Mirren’s] character actually survive? It’s gonna be so lame if she shows up.’ But that was sort of my Plan B.”
According to David F. Sandberg, he realized what the consequences would be if Gal Gadot didn’t actually show up since the people would be so pissed at him. Thankfully, the Red Notice actress did show up.
Shazam! Director Was Afraid of Gal Gadot’s Absence
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman 1984.
In his talks with Collider, director David F. Sandberg stated that thankfully Gal Gadot did show up in the end. The director revealed that people would have been furious if another stand-in was used and Gadot did not make a cameo in the movie.
“But then it actually happened and we were actually able to shoot with her, which made me very happy. Because, I mean, we poke fun at the headless cameo in this movie, and we could not have done that if she didn’t actually show up at the end, I think, because people would have just been so pissed off.”
With a low rating of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes and 47% on Metacritic, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is screening in theaters across the world.
