After the roaring success of the 2017 remake of Wonder Woman starring the brilliant Gal Gadot, it was only a matter of time until Warner Bros started planning a sequel. 

Despite fears that a female-lead superhero film wouldn’t go down well with audiences, the film was an undeniable critical and commercial success. Not only is it the highest-grossing superhero origin film of all time, raking in more than £613m at box offices worldwide, but it crushed preconceptions that men wouldn’t pay to see the film, with figures showing that 50% of audiences in the opening weekend were male. 

On top of all this, the film championed a strong female lead and shared a feminist message, reducing grown women and little girls to joyful tears alike. So, it’s fair to say that here at stylist.co.uk we’re ready to welcome the sequel with open arms. 

Some details about the new film have already been released, such as it will be set in the Eighties and will continue to star Gadot. But there’s one revelation we’re particularly excited about, and that’s the news that actor, writer and producer Kristen Wiig will be joining the cast to play the villain. 

Wiig is known for her talented work on multiple female-focused films such as Bridesmaids, which she wrote the script for in six days, and the all-female remake of Ghostbusters. 

Now, she’s lending her acting talents to Wonder Woman 1984 as the superhero’s long-time nemesis, the Cheetah. Otherwise known as British archaeologist Barbara Ann Minerva, the Cheetah is a selfish, neurotic, sarcastic and extremely powerful villain who covets Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth.

Diana and the Cheetah have a long, fraught and complex relationship in the film’s comic book source material. Vulture describes the Cheetah as “ubiquitous and colourful enough to possibly be defined as Diana’s Joker”, which gives you an idea of what to expect. 

Now the first glimpse of what the second film will hold has been revealed, and the snap shot shows Wiig in front of the camera as Minerva, standing in a museum surrounded by taxidermy. 

The picture was released by the film’s director Patty Jenkins, alongside a teasing caption which simply reads: “Enter Barbara Minerva…#WW84”

The lack of context around the image has us, and fans of the film, wondering what this moment will mean in the film. Will this scene show Minerva picking out a cheetah as her chosen animal to align herself with? Some social media users seem to think so, with many replying to Jenkins’ tweet with comments addressing the animals surrounding the character in the shot. 

Others, of course, haven’t been able to help themselves in sharing some well picked memes to show their excitement, colliding the worlds of Wonder Woman and Bridesmaids or picking out scenes from the animated series. 

To say we’re excited to see some of our favourite actors on screen together in a film that champions female talent would be an understatement. Roll on next November. 

Images: Getty