Los Angeles:Actor Samara Weaving is set to join Marvel Studios' upcoming "X-Men" film with the Australian star emerging as the studio's choice to play the telepathic mutant Emma Frost.
According to Deadline, director Jake Schreier and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige have selected Weaving for the role earlier this week after meeting a number of candidates.
Marvel Studios declined to comment on the reported casting.
Emma Frost, who made her comic book debut in the 1980s, is a powerful telepathic mutant whose character evolved from a supervillain to one of the X-Men's key members.
On screen, the role was previously portrayed by January Jones in 2011's "X-Men: First Class".
Marvel has been assembling the cast for the new "X-Men" movie following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, which brought the film rights to the mutant franchise under Marvel Studios.
The project gained momentum earlier this year when Schreier, best known for directing Marvel's "Thunderbolts*", came on board to helm the film.
"Beef" creator Lee Sung Jin and "The Bear" co-creator Joanna Calo are writing the screenplay.
The "X-Men" franchise was among Fox's most successful Marvel properties, spawning seven mainline films along with the "Wolverine" spin-off trilogy.
Weaving, known for films such as "Ready or Not", "Babylon" and "Scream VI", most recently reprised her role as Grace MacCaullay in "Ready or Not 2: Here I Come".
She also starred in "Over Your Dead Body" opposite Jason Segel and the romantic crime thriller "Carolina Caroline".
