Speaking of Wonder Woman 1984, the main villain in that movie, Maxwell Lord, is played by none other than Pedro Pascal. But his first interaction with the character of Diana, as a police officer named Ed Indelicato in Palicki’s pilot, predated his arrival in the DCEU as well as his breakout starring roles in The Mandalorian and The Last of Us.
“He’s just one of the loveliest people ever,” says Palicki about her co-star. “He always has been. He was a huge Friday Night Lights fan, so when he got to work, he was geeking out, which is hilarious to look at him now…But he was just so easy to work with. He was always so good as an actor, but as a human, even when I see him now, he’s just always so lovely. It hasn’t got the best of him.”
That Controversial Costume
As with any superhero property, even back then, Wonder Woman was the subject of both intense curiosity and controversy. “It was really funny how many paparazzi were around because it was such a big deal,” Palicki recalls. “I had to leave my trailer in robes, top to bottom covering me.”
The controversy arose from the first publicly released photos of Palicki in her costume, which traded Wonder Woman’s classic star-spangled blue shorts for snug blue pants with stars running down the sides, which Palicki wears for the first half of the show before emerging in the shorts in Act Four.
“It was annoying because they didn’t release the regular one,” Palicki says now. “I did wear the old school version. But that’s not what they released and everybody went crazy over the pants. That’s why the end is the big reveal where she wears [the classic costume]. I was like, ‘Wait, guys!’ It was unbelievable. It was so crazy. We’ve come a long way [but] that was such a big deal at the time.”
Joining a Special Group of Women
Although Palicki – who can currently be seen in the Hulu original movie Quasi – says that she has never had the chance to speak with either Lynda Carter or Gal Gadot about the role, she reveals that David E. Kelley did have early discussions with Carter about coming on the show as a guest for several episodes, had it gone to series. “I loved watching [her] show when I was a kid,” Palicki says. “I wanted to be her. She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”
