Last evening, it was announced that actress Adrianne Palicki, most recently of the short-lived Lone Star TV series and soon to be of the upcoming Red Dawn remake, has been cast in the lead role of David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman pilot, says THR. After something like a decade or so of false starts, fan hype and fan casting (i.e. wanking), this 27-year-old from Ohio has landed the most coveted female superhero role there is. Kelley and cohort, Bill D’elia (Boston Legal, The Practice), are exec producing, while Jeffrey Reiner (The Event) is set to direct. The project, is being done by David E. Kelley Prods. and Warner Bros. TV. It’s described as a retelling of the DC Comics title in which Wonder Woman (Palicki), a.k.a. Diana Prince, tries to balance her life as a vigilante crime fighter, a successful corporate executive and a modern woman.
So who is Adrianne Palicki? And more important, can she pull off the role? A quick check of her IMDB page tells me the following:
– Her biggest role to date was as Tyra Collette in Friday Night Lights. Okay. I didn’t watch that show, so I’m still in the dark.
– She appeared in both Elektra Luxx and Legion last year. Didn’t see either of those either (sadly, I’m really not catching much lately in theatres. Plan to change that soon, though).
– She’s done voice work on Robot Chicken and Titan Maximum, including the last two Robot Chicken: Star Wars spoofs. Good, I did see those, but alas, she’s voice only on them. Further digging is required.
– She’s also appeared in the failed Aquaman pilot, in which fellow Smallville alum, Justin Hartley was AC. She appeared in the South Beach TV series, had guest roles on North Shore, Criminal Minds and CSI: Miami. She was also her Luxx role, Holly Rocket, in Women in Trouble.
– She was the fake, naked-in-the-woods Kara Zore-El in the 2004 Smallville episode, “Covenant”. Aha! I remember that episode. But it was like, seven years ago.
– She was Jessica, Sam’s fiance that got torched by Yellow Eyes in the Supernatural pilot and three subsequent episodes (she was in three subsequent episodes, she didn’t necessarily get torched in three subsequent episodes). Alllright. Now I’ve got a handle.
So, Palicki is definitely the right age range, and a more than cursory look at some pics, reveal that she has the physical qualities to pull off the costume (unless they go with the new “improved” outfit…please God, no, please God no). She also appears to be somewhat of a chameleon, changing hairstyles and colors with practically every other pic. That could work well for her in the role of Diana. So good for her. We’ll see how it goes…if it goes at all. But she’sd definitely got some big…shoes to fill.
