This is promising news. Warner Bros. announced yesterday that the Wonder Woman film slated for 2016 will be developed and directed by one of the finest directors working in television, Michelle MacLaren. Zack Snyder, who is overseeing the DC-universe on-screen (and directing Batman v. Superman) will produce.

The project will mark the film debut of MacLaren, but not Wonder Woman. The character will make her cinematic debut next year in Snyder’s Batman v. Superman Dawn of Justice. It still amazess that in the 73 years since her creation, Wonder Woman has never appeared in a movie.

The Wonder Woman film will also mark the first superhero movie of the new Marvel and DC era featuring a women in the title character, though another is planned. Marvel Studios has announced plans for a Captain Marvel film, to be released in 2018. Which means that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will produce its first female-led film in its 18th installment.

MacLaren will also be the first woman to direct in the DC or Marvel Universe. Lexi Alexander, who directed Punisher: War Zone in 2008, is the only other woman to direct a superhero film this millenium (The Punisher is a Marvel character, but the film was not set inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

MacLaren has been directing television for a decade, getting her first credit on The X-Files. Since then she has worked extensively on Breaking Bad, directing “To’Hajiilee,” one of the finest episodes of the show’s final season. She’s worked on Walking Dead, directing the season 4 finale “A.” But for my money, the finest work of MacLaren’s that I’ve come across is last year’s Game of Thrones episode “First of his Name.”

Thinking through the work MacLaren has done on television, she’s an excellent choice to direct Wonder Woman. While television is not a director’s medium in the same manner that film is, her ability to find the visual heart of the show’s subject cannot be denied. Walter White panicking in the desert in Breaking Bad. Rick, in Walking Dead, looking over his friends as he realizes what is happening in the train car that holds them. The wandering eyes of Peter Baelish in the Eyrie in Game of Thrones. Each of these episodes feature heavy plot elements and workmanlinke action scenes to push that plot, which MacLaren handles adeptly.

But what you remember about her episodes is not the action but the stillness that surrounds action, and the movements and manner that makes the characters who they are.

This is a quality that our superhero movies desperately need. I’ve long disliked the work of Zack Snyder for his inability to reach any level of character interest in his direction, but too many others working in superhero stories have succumbed to the same problem. Bringing in new directors who have an eye to directing for character rather than action, is a step in the right direction.