In a surprising turn of events, it seems that progress on the much desired ‘Wonder Woman’ film has now stalled as director Michelle MacLaren is officially off the project.

The statement released by Warner Bros. pretty much says it all:

“Given creative differences, Warner Bros. and Michelle MacLaren have decided not to move forward with plans to develop and direct Wonder Woman together.”

While no specific details at the cause of the differences were divulged, Badass Digest has it that Warner Bros. and MacLaren couldn’t agree on even the most basic things such as what time period the movie should be set in. Additionally it was stated Warner Bros. was also not happy with some of the decisions MacLaren was making which they felt would have alienated the DC fandom. One of those decisions included giving the Amazon princess a pet “tiger sidekick/pet she could talk with”.

MacLaren was announced as the helmer of the project back in November after months of searching by the studio. While she did state back in December that the film had not officially been greenlit yet, both she and Warner Bros. were actively looking at writers to scribe the screenplay. At one point it was rumored that as much as 6 writers were tapped to write a draft for the film with both MacLaren and the WB to pick out elements that they liked and combining them into one script. (Yes, a groan worthy face palm moment there if the rumors were true.)

‘Wonder Woman’ would have been MacLaren’s first feature film as a director and while she had been heavily involved in the script writing process up until her departure, there is no word if any of what has been developed so far will be used or if the project will just start from scratch once a new director is found.

In addition, it looks like a male lead also needs to be found to play opposite Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. A couple weeks ago it was reported that Scott Eastwood was offered the role as Steve Trevor who is rumored to make a cameo in the upcoming ‘Suicide Squad’ film. According to Variety, that information was not correct and that Warner Bros actually has four actors on their short list who have been given offers to come in and test. Unfortunately, their sources were unable to reveal who those four are.

While this turmoil may seem like a bad omen for the ‘Wonder Woman’ film, it isn’t the first time that a superhero film has lost a director this late in the game. A few years back, Patty Jenkins had parted ways with Marvel for the same “creative differences” reason when she was tapped to direct ‘Thor 2.’ The job then went to Alan Taylor who did an excellent job with ‘Thor: The Dark World.’ And most recently Edgar Wright walked away from ‘Ant-Man.’

Needless to say, if Warner Bros. is to keep with their cinematic schedule of a Wonder Woman film to be released in 2017, they will need to find a director and fast. The question is, however, will Warner Bros. still stick by their initial plan to have a female direct the film?

Let us know what you think and who you would like to see direct ‘Wonder Woman’ in the comments below.