The death of Steve Trevor at the climax of Wonder Woman served as one of the more emotional moments of the 2017 film, but with the upcoming sequel set to bring Chris Pine’s character back from the dead, there’ve been some concerns that his heroic self-sacrifice will be somewhat cheapened. Nonetheless, director Patty Jenkins assures us that the return of Steve in Wonder Woman 1984 has a purpose beyond mere fan service.
In a recent interview on AM to DM, the filmmaker explained that the character wasn’t simply shoehorned into the drama, and that the part he plays in the story is both important and makes sense:
“It [Pine’s return] wasn’t a solution to ‘Oh god, that worked out, let’s try to jam you in there.’ It’s all incredibly important to the story. It makes perfect sense, that’s all I can tell you.”
Indeed, Pine mentioned in an interview a couple of months ago that Jenkins notified him of Steve’s comeback while they were still halfway through shooting the first movie, implying that the twist wasn’t exactly a last-minute decision for the filmmaker.
In any case, though we’ve still got well over a year to wait before Steve returns to our screens, a source close to We Got This Covered dropped a few details about the film’s plot earlier this month, claiming that the character is resurrected by Maxwell Lord as a means of enlisting the services of Wonder Woman against his new foe Cheetah. If all we’re hearing is true, then it sounds like Steve’s return could provide some genuine emotional stakes for the story, while also giving Diana Prince a reason to return to the action.
Pine himself has compared his role in Wonder Woman 1984 to “a deer in the headlights,” which doesn’t bode particularly well for Steve, but we’ll find out if he can at least live to see the end credits this time round when the film hits theaters on June 5th, 2020.