Of course, Wonder Woman 2 is happening. You don’t let a film that has made $759 million worldwide go without a sequel. Well, now Wonder Woman 2 finally has a release date. Warner Bros has scheduled the film to hit theaters on December 13, 2019. The only problem is, Patty Jenkins isn’t officially signed on to direct again. More on the story below.

Warner Bros. (via Collider) made the announcement of the sequel date yesterday. However, the press release did not mention Jenkins as the director. When we last reported on the story, Jenkins was still in talks to return. Now, she does hold all the cards on the table. Considering she delivered WB the DCEU’s first hit, both critically and commercially, she has the most leverage in the room. There is some thought that she could be asking to be a major creative consultant now that there are rumors of Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder‘s involvement being limited.

However, Jenkins isn’t exactly out of the picture. She is working on a new script with Geoff Johns, which would reportedly see Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in 1980s America, with the possibility of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) returning. Of course, it’s still too early to reveal how that will happen, but just know that it is something that might be explored.

So it is a little odd that even though Jenkins delivered WB a hit DCEU film and is currently writing the script for the sequel, hasn’t been confirmed to be its director. After all she’s done, one would think she would have to do more with the DCEU than just direct a film. Look at what happened to Joss Whedon and James Gunn over at Marvel; after the success of their films, they had a larger creative role in the MCU.

With a release date set, Wonder Woman 2 will now compete in one of the biggest blockbuster seasons of the year. It will now have to face off against Sony’s Masters of the Universe, which opens on December 18, 2019; Disney’s untitled fairytale film, which opens on December 20, 2019; Universal’s adaptation of the musical Wicked, which hits theaters on December 20, 2019; and an untitled Sony Animated feature, opening December 25, 2019.

So far, Wonder Woman 2 would be the one true DCEU sequel to hit theaters. Though the DCEU is still in its infancy, the studio has been announcing titles for Green Lantern Corps, The Flash: Flashpoint, Nightwing, The Batgirl, Gotham City Sirens, and Suicide Squad 2. Obviously, if one or all of those films are hits, they will be getting sequels of their own.

We’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date on any new developments as they come in.

[Source: Collider]