Scoop: TV's New Wonder Woman Is Friday Night Lights' Adrianne Palicki
Here’s a piece of casting news that can only — especially given the situation — be described as super: Friday Night Lights beauty Adrianne Palicki has been tapped to star as Wonder Woman in the much-talked about pilot for NBC, TVLine has learned.
Executive-produced and penned by veteran small-screen auteur David E. Kelley (Boston Legal, Ally McBeal), TV’s new Wonder Woman will have Palicki playing no less than three “roles”:
• The titular crimefighter, “reinvented” here as an L.A.-based vigilante
• Alter ego No. 1: Diana Themyscira, a mega-billionaire CEO
• Alter ego No. 2: Diana’s “plain Jane” assistant, Diana Prince. (Good luck with that one, makeup and wardrobe!)
Other key players to be cast for Wonder Woman include Steve Trevor (now a lawyer for the Justice Department and a onetime paramour of Diana T.’s); Themyscira Industries’ press secretary, Mindy; and Veronica Cale, an eeeevil scientist poised to be WW’s primary adversary.
But back to Palicki: In addition to of course her run as Tyra on the acclaimed Friday Night Lights, this past fall she was one of two female leads on Fox’s lauded but short-lived Lonestar drama. Most recently, she (quite colorfully) guest-starred on Criminal Minds.
I’ll also point out that, according to IMDb as well as the way she towered over me at TCA, Palicki is 5-foot-11, making her sufficiently “Amazonian” in presence.
Oh, and there’s this: Not one hour after the Palicki news got out, that 1970s Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, tweeted her approval: “Congratulations, Adrianne!”
Bill D’Elia (Boston Legal) is also an executive producer on Wonder Woman, while Jeffrey Reiner (The Event) will direct the pilot.
So, don’t leave us Wonder-ing: Does Palicki get a thumbs-up from you for this iconic role?
Perfect choice. Too bad the show is gonna suck.
Can’t be any worse than The Cape…
Okay, they officially have my attention. This is really great news!
I’ve been pretty much ignoring WW talk since it started, and now I’m officially interested. Palicki is fantastic. Now, if they could cast James Wolk, her co-star from Lonestar, in some role, even better. That guy needs to be back on television asap. He seems like he’d be perfect for that Steve Trevor role.
Like her a lot.
But Wonder Woman?????
Not so much
I agree with you Alan. I like her, but as Wonder Woman?! Im scratching my head at this casting scoop.
I’m not familiar with her, but she looks the role and she’s not one of these annoying other actresses whose names keep getting tossed around, so fine by me…I was REALLY scared that someone awful would get the part and ruin it. I spent hours spinning in circles wearing my Wonder Woman Underoos as a child, so this is very important to me!
Adrianne Palicki played Lindsey Harrison on the third season of Smallville, a local girl who Jor-El programmed to believe that she was “Kara of Krypton”
https://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/Lindsey_Harrison
Oh, and she was Sam’s gf in Supernatural
Yes!! Thank you for mentioning that! I can’t believe that Matt didn’t put that in the article. TV Guide did the same thing. Us Supernatural fans will always remember Jess, Sam’s unfortunate girlfriend.
Yes yes yes
I can see her in the role. Thumbs up from me!
I don’t see her fitting the role.
I’m obviously not up on the new ‘updated’ storyline in Los Angeles, but I always pictured Wonder Woman based in New York or Washington DC. As far as the ‘corporate’ identity – sounds like Michael Douglas’ Wall Street to me. “Mega-Billionair” ? – C’mon we already have Bruce Wayne Billionair and Tony Stark Billionair, why Wonder Woman? It’s gonna take a lot to appeal or modify my first impression.
Don’t forget, once upon a time she also played Sam Winchester’s girlfriend Jess on Supernatural.
hmmmm… shes beautiful…but ill have to wait and see. I personally still want Bridget Reagan for the role…
doesn’t Palicki have a wonder woman tattoo already???
Close! It’s Supergirl ;)
Thank goodness they didn’t get some tiny actress. Not sure about the changes to the mythos though.
Would love to see Jon Tenney cast as Steve Trevor opposite Palicki!!
LOVE this choice. HATE this concept. I know I’m prejudging unfairly and it may very well turn out great, but this feels like Wonder Woman in name only. Why does she have two alter-egos? Why? So we can have Three’s Company/Mrs. Doubtfire-like antics when she has to jump between her two “Diana” personae? Yech… Still, nice casting!
I agree wholeheartedly with you. As an actress, I feel like she’s a fine choice, but as a concept…not too excited for this. Yes, we’re prejudging, but we’re also probably right. Which is really too bad.
Love her, and love the idea of her as Wonder Woman. I haven’t had a lot of confidence in the idea so far – especially with the triple identity thing, that’s worse than the Clark Kent glasses – but this casting choice makes me a little more optimistic.
Jessica Moore, Sam Winchesters lost love. Palicki is awesome in everything she tries her hand at, she will nail this, hope to see her in more Supernatural in the future too.
Hell yes! Great new all around!
Great choice. Now cast Mariksa Hargitay as her mother, Hippolyta.
She’s got a lot of genre behind her (Smallville‘s “fake” Kara, Supernatural‘s Jess, the Aquaman/Mercy Reef pilot’s Siren, the movie Legion), but Tyra as Wonder Woman? I get the height but not sure about her presence for the role yet.
I love Adrianne, but I am not sure if she can pull off playing all three of the characters. I was really hoping the would cast a complete unknown for this iconic role. I wish her luck. I will still be watching the show.
She was in Smallville!!!
I don’t like her in the role. Why waste our time?
HELL YEAH!!! This is AWESOME!!!!
Definitely not my choice of actress and I’m worried about the three personae. I’m much less interested than I was before.
Here’s the biiig problem. This show, despite its David E. Kelley moniker, will be supported by Fanboys of the Comic Book variety. At some point in this show, David E. Kelley will make the show about his fascinatin’ supporting characters, and gradually lose interest in the central character, Wonder Woman. (We’ve seen this in Ally McBeal, wasn’t Boston Legal all about his supporting characters from the Practice, and aren’t we watching this happen right now in Harry’s Law…slightly off topic, but has the main character “Harriet” moved past her desk in the last three episodes?)
When you can’t get at least a look at your title character, the fanboys are gonna lose interest, and the show will crash and burn. Can someone please get a note to David E. Kelley that it might be nice to have Wonder Woman featured in his Wonder Woman TV show?
While I agree with the sentiment that WW should be in the show, I disagree with you about the fanboys. I’m editor-in-chief of a comic/movie/toy/tv review site, and I have a lot of contacts in the comics community. The general consensus that I’ve encountered is that Kelley’s involvement and the news we’ve heard about how the story is being handled, are a step in the wrong direction. It sounds like it’s going to be Wondy McBeal to the Nth degree.
Aw man. I was really excited about Wonder Woman. Now I probably won’t watch. Adrianne bugs me.