Pedro Pascal Explains How His Wonder Woman 1984 Character Is American Greed Incarnate

Pedro Pascal Explains How His Wonder Woman 1984 Character Is American Greed Incarnate

Wonder Woman 1984 is going to dig into the personal downsides of Diana’s immortality, like that fact that she has to stand by and watch as the people closest to her fade away over decades that leave her unchanged. In the ‘80s, new characters like Kristin Wiig’s Barbara Minerva and Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord are set to come into Diana’s life, and she’s naturally inclined to assume that they mean to become her friends and allies.

But as anyone familiar with Barbara and Max’s DC Comics counterparts knows, the pair are destined to become two of Wonder Woman’s greatest foes. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pascal and director Patty Jenkins discussed the different presences these characters will bring to 1984. Before Minerva transforms into Cheetah, she’s initially introduced as being genuinely interested in bonding with Diana. Jenkins explained how Wiig’s take on the character vacillates between having an earnest fondness for the Amazon and harbouring a deep hatred for her.

“[I] feel like Kristen [Wiig’s] playing a character who’s both ends of the spectrum—she’s your warm, funny friend who’s kind and interesting and then can transform into something completely different,” Jenkins explained. “Yes, she happens to be a woman, but she’s straight out of the Gene Hackman Superman school of great, funny, tremendous actors.”

Diana’s emotional entanglement with Cheetah and the fact that the speedster has a penchant for eviscerating her enemies with her razor sharp claws are likely to be why Diana dusts off her heavy-duty full body armour. But while Cheetah’s villainy is driven by personal desires and her resentment of her onetime friend, Pascal noted that Max Lord—a money-hungry business tycoon—is an embodiment of the excess that defined the 80s, something Diana’s likely to balk at.

“It’s this character who encompasses a component of the era which is, you know, ‘Get whatever want, however you can. You’re entitled to it!’ And at any cost, ultimately, which represents a huge part of our culture and this kind of unabashed—it’s greed,” he said.“It’s f—ing greed, of course. But it’s also about ‘How do you be your best self? How do you win?’ So he’s definitely the face of that version of success.”

With all of these villains in her midst, it makes sense that Diana would keep an inexplicably resurrected Steve Trevor as close to her as possible, where he’s sure to do all he can to help her out in whatever way he can with his feeble human arms. It’s a good thing, too, because Diana’s gonna need all the help she can get when Wonder Woman 1984 thunders into theatres June 4.