Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins to reunite for Cleopatra movie

Having conquered Themyscira and the DC Extended Universe, actor Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins now have a new challenge in mind. With Wonder Woman 1984 incoming this December (at the time of writing), the duo will next unite for Egyptian epic Cleopatra, reports Deadline.

The fabled story of the doomed Egyptian queen has already inspired numerous Hollywood productions. The most famous of these was 1963's Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor in what was, for the time, the most expensive movie production ever. With its opulent sense of scale, the movie went on to win four of the nine Oscars it was nominated for, although its expense very nearly ran studio 20th Century Fox into the ground.

Gadot and Jenkins will reportedly be working from a script by Shutter Island and Alita: Battle Angel writer Laeta Kalogridis. Gadot spawned the initial idea and plans to produce it through her Pilot Wave production company.

With its appropriately grand scale and underlying themes of empowerment and honour, the story of Cleopatra can clearly be seen as an ancestor to Wonder Woman's adventures. Jenkins and Gadot were acclaimed for their spirited and emotional take on the DC icon in their initial 2017 movie.

This year's sequel pits Wonder Woman/Diana Prince against sinister entrpreneur Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and archaeologist turned supervillain Barbara Minerva/Cheetah (Kristen Wiig). To top it all off, Diana's World War I love interest Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) has somehow come back from the dead.

Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled for release on Christmas Day 2020, and will be preceded by another Gadot vehicle: Agatha Christie mystery Death on the Nile, currently slated to appear (again, at the time of writing) on 18th December.