When Wonder Woman was released in 2017, Warner Bros. was in the midst of trying to build its DC Film universe. It had laid the foundation with Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and was attempting to quick-bake itself a cinematic universe that would culminate in the team-up film Justice League. But when Wonder Woman hit theaters just a few months before Justice League, it became a box office sensation, attracting audiences for its standalone nature that barely made any allusions to the greater DC Film universe.

That standalone success was something that director Patty Jenkins would double down on in Wonder Woman 1984, the not-a-sequel to Wonder Woman that takes place decades before Wonder Woman is supposedly introduced to the world in Batman vs. Superman. But how exactly does it fit into the wider DC Film universe, or DC Extended Universe, when Wonder Woman is doing her duty to protect humanity in a very public fashion? Producer Charles Roven explained it all to /Film during a set visit to Wonder Woman 1984.

When Clark Kent embraces his fate and becomes Superman in Man of Steel, he was ostensibly the first superhero the world had ever seen. It’s his superpowered status, and the fallout of it, that leads directly to the events of Batman vs. Superman. But then Wonder Woman jumps into the fray and opens the door to a whole new world of superheroes.

But how exactly has she been operating for over 80 years without drawing the attention of the public? In Wonder Woman, she fought on the front lines, but was only seen by a handful of soldiers and Belgian villagers — something that could easily be written off as hearsay or urban legend. But in Wonder Woman 1984, Diana couldn’t be more public, fighting goons in shopping malls and running through the streets of Washington, D.C. Wonder Woman 1984 is a standalone movie, but it doesn’t take place in an alternate universe. Roven was coy about the how, but confirms that it will be “dealt with” by Diana in the film:

“She has ways of dealing with it. She definitely does deal with it. You’ll definitely see how she handles it in a number of circumstances. Nevertheless, there’s still rumors about her, but nobody can prove it.”

“You can look at it as a standalone because those things are irrelevant because the entire timeframe of the film happens in Themyscira in a place where time doesn’t exist,” added Roven. “Also, everything that takes place in the film happens from, let’s just say, Armistice Day until the end of this movie, which is still in 1984.”

Jenkins may be approaching Wonder Woman 1984 first and foremost as a standalone adventure, but the filmmaker isn’t averse to the big picture either. Star Gal Gadot, who compares Jenkins to “a Japanese sword,” said with Wonder Woman 1984, the filmmaker embodies “the same wonderful creative rule of hard smarts, see the bigger picture and the macro and the micro and everything. She has all the same qualities but now everything is quicker. She’s been there she knows how it works. She has the same clues that worked with us in the previous one and it’s just like this very smooth process.”

Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters on October 2, 2020.

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