Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are reunited in this exclusive Wonder Woman 1984 image

Have no doubt: Wonder Woman 1984 is a sequel to Wonder Woman. Yes, the movie may take place in a completely different time period – and even have some previously thought dead characters return – but director Patty Jenkins is adamant that the upcoming flick continues Diana's story.

"There was a little period of time where people got very upset, and questioning: ‘Is it not a sequel? Is it a total reboot?’” Jenkins tells our sister publication Total Film magazine in the upcoming issue. “It is a sequel, insofar as nothing is contradicted between the two movies. But it’s very important to me that it’s not more of the first movie. It’s a totally different movie. Now, when you see the trailer, you can feel it.

“It’s a different tone, look, feel, world, and context. That was what important to me. This is its own standalone story that, of course, is also a continuation of our characters and their linear line. It’s just its own movie with its own very different feel.”

Of course, the new time period – baked into the title – was always going to make a huge difference, taking Diana Prince away from the trenches of WW1 and into the gaudy excesses of the decade when greed was good. 

As for the fact that the year resonates with George Orwell’s surveillance-state classic, don’t expect that to be coincidental. Jenkins has previously said that she picked 1984 “for a very specific reason”. Get a new look at the time period in an exclusive new image of Wonder Woman 1984 above.

You can read the extended interview with Jenkins – plus conversations with the team behind Free Guy, including Jodie Comer, Reynolds, and Joe Keery – in the upcoming issue of Total Film, which hits shelves and digital on Friday, May 1. You can subscribe online here. Wonder Woman reaches cinemas 14 August.

If you can’t make it to the shops, you can order a copy of the print magazine from this link from Friday. You can also subscribe to Total Film digitally on your tablet, and there’s currently an offer that allows you to get your first five digital issues for just £5/$5/€5. Head to this link to sign up (Black Widow issue available from April 3). Terms and conditions apply, offer runs until April 30, 2020. If you subscribe, you can get exclusive covers like the one below.