This year’s “Wonder Woman” movie is one of 2017’s biggest pop-culture success stories, but NBC’s 2011 attempt at a show about the female superhero was not quite as lucky.
Six years ago, Adrianne Palicki starred in a “Wonder Woman” pilot from David E. Kelley that did not get picked up to series despite generating a ton of buzz.
“We were a year or two too soon,” Palicki told TheWrap about the TV effort presaging the theatrical dominion of superhero films. “It was right before the main pop of Marvel movies and television series. The movies [had started coming] out, but it wasn’t like [today, where] that’s what makes money now — that’s what people want to see. It was a little too soon, it was a little early.”
Palicki, who currently stars as Commander Kelly Grayson on Fox’s “The Orville,” acknowledges that it wasn’t easy for her to deal with her version of “Wonder Woman” fizzling out.
“I was devastated for a while after, I’m not going to lie,” the actress said. “But I got to paid to wear that costume! It was fun, and also I wouldn’t have been able to do this [‘Orville’] role if I was playing Wonder Woman, so I’m thankful for all these things.”
Palicki points out that Gal Gadot — the star of this summer’s blockbuster film and the upcoming “Justice League” — is “great.” The “Friday Night Lights” alum also adds that she’s “so proud to see strong women out there.”
“There’s so many disappointments in one’s career — the cancellations and the possibilities that don’t go,” she continued. “But [‘Orville’] felt like lightning in a bottle when we were shooting it.”
“The Orville,” which also stars Seth MacFarlane, has already been picked up for a second season. It airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Fox.