Villainess Blown Opportunity: A Villainous Liz Hurley Cancelled by NBC (Wonder Woman)

You know, NBC's done a lot of things over the years that has pissed me off. And no, I'm not talking about losing the NHL coverage. I'm grateful to NBC for basically resurrecting the NHL following the lockout, how they promoted the sport, and how they elevated it during a time where apathy towards hockey was at its worst. NBC delivered 16 great seasons of NHL coverage. I'm grateful for that, and plus, someone had to go to make way for the NHL's debut on Turner and their return to ESPN.

So while I am grateful for that, I'm pissed at a lot of dumb things NBC's done. Still hate that they cancelled a good sitcom like My Name Is Earl on a damn cliffhanger. Unceremoniously ending Law & Order in 2010 after 20 years was also dumb; granted the show's back, but still. Found should still be on. Counting Peacock, Poker Face should still be on. Carrie Underwood shouldn't be.

But what really pissed me off as an uber-fan of villainesses: why in the hell was the Wonder Woman pilot cancelled?!

I didn't know about this show until around 2014, but NBC had a modern-day Wonder Woman series planned. A pilot was even shot. The titular heroine was played by one of my favorite actresses, Adrianne Palicki, who is best known for playing on Friday Night Lights, but we Supernatural fans know her as Sam Winchester's ill-fated girlfriend, Jessica. So how did I learn about this pilot? In 2013 and 2014, I saw the usually blonde Palicki with dark hair in a few projects. One, G.I. Joe: Retaliation; that came out in 2013. Two, John Wick, which featured Palicki as the evil Ms. Perkins. And three, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, specifically the episode, "A Hen in the Wolf House," which saw Palicki debut as Bobbi Morse. Regarding those last two, with Palicki as an actual villainess in film and a teased villainess on TV, I saw them on the same day: October 21, 2014.

So regarding the 2011 pilot, the central villainess was Veronica Cale, and from what I learned years ago, Veronica Cale is a big time businesswoman in the pharmaceutical world, but she's also a big time criminal villainess. In addition, she is immensely jealous of Wonder Woman. Dead serious, Veronica's jealousy could fill up Ball Arena 10 times over. She's committed several crimes in the comics, but regarding the pilot, Veronica was distributing PEDs that give people superhuman strength, but repeated use is deadly.

So yeah, a villainess was plaguing Wonder Woman, but she wasn't played by anyone iconic, right? Right?!

Oh baby! Elizabeth Hurley! That's who appeared in the pilot as Veronica Cale! Absolutely delicious! Hurley's done a hell of a lot and she's still doing it, but of course, I can't help but relish her amazing and fiery appearance as The Devil in 2000's version of Bedazzled, which also starred Brendan Fraser. I love that movie and still do! So yeah, a modern-day adaptation of Wonder Woman, and we had the legendary Liz Hurley as the main villainess, who would definitely be a regular on the series! That's TV gold! Certainly NBC thought so, right?

Right?!

Nope.

They didn't even let the pilot air. NBC cancelled this thing quickly. I have to feel for Adrianne Palicki; this is the second superhero-pilot that she had done that ended up cancelled after the pilot. A televised version of Aquaman saw its pilot episode feature Palicki as Nadia, an evil siren, but The WB (in their final days before they became The CW) cancelled that pilot. But the real crime here: we were robbed of a villainous Liz Hurley on a superhero series. That is absolutely unacceptable. Elizabeth Hurley, with that look, that accent, and that allure--perfect for villainous roles. NBC had the best one right in their laps, and they absolutely butt-fumbled it.

And here's what makes this worse: there were no live action portrayals of Veronica Cale until the pilot. Here it is, 15 years after the pilot was cancelled, and we still haven't seen a live action Veronica Cale. The villainess appeared one other time on TV, and once in film, but both were animated. On HBO Max's Harley Quinn series, Veronica Cale was voiced by Edi Patterson (who was in Knives Out). In the 2019 animated film, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, Veronica Cale was voiced by Constance Zimmer.

The only hope for a live action Veronica Cale is if we get another Wonder Woman film. Here's something I thought of; if we really are getting a different actress as Wonder Woman, maybe Gal Gadot could take on the Veronica Cale role; she'd be perfect! NBC has made many mistakes when it comes to their programming, but honestly, denying us the privilege of seeing an evil and ruthess Liz Hurley is the worst, in my view. An absolute bonafide blown opportunity for sure.

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So what do you think? Elizabeth Hurley as Veronica Cale; should we have seen this? Feel free to comment with your thoughts below!