Rumor: Tatiana Maslany lands lead role in Star Wars spinoff

According to Total Geeks, Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany has landed the lead role in the first Star Wars spinoff. The Canadian actress was linked to the part last week when her name appeared on a shortlist along with Rooney Mara and Felicity Jones.

The rumor has since been corroborated by The Mary Sue, whose sources also confirmed she has bagged the coveted part after impressing folks at Disney and Lucasfilm.

The fact that Maslany recently dropped out of a pivotal role in Neil LaBute’s forthcoming off-Broadway play over “scheduling differences” lends further weight to the speculation.

No word yet on who she’ll be playing, but her phenomenal performance(s) in Orphan Black suggests we’re in for a treat.

Currently in development, the as-yet untitled standalone flick will be directed by Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards. It made the headlines earlier this week when news broke that About A Boy writer-director Chris Weitz had joined the project to hone the script. He replaces previous scribe Gary Whitta who exited the film after working on its screenplay for a year.

The Star Wars spinoff lands in theaters on December 16, 2016.

Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter. 

Latest in Star Wars Movies
Werner Herzog in The Mandalorian
Star Wars fans are sharing their favorite unbelievable canon cameos – and some of them are seriously deep-cut
Kathleen Kennedy standing with a bunch of Stormtroopers
Star Wars' Kathleen Kennedy debunks retirement reports, as she shares plans for the future of Lucasfilm: "I will die making movies"
Star Wars
Two of Star Wars' biggest no-show movies get updates – but they're not completely promising
Mando and Grogu in The Mandalorian
The Ryan Gosling-led Star Wars movie from Deadpool and Wolverine director is set "five or six years" after The Rise of Skywalker
Kevin Feige
Kevin Feige and Dave Filoni are reportedly among the names in the running to replace Star Wars boss Kathleen Kennedy for Lucasfilm top job
Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm
After 13 years overseeing Star Wars, Kathleen Kennedy is reportedly set to step down as Lucasfilm president
Latest in News
Urban Dead
Cult text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead is shutting down after "a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days" because of new UK legislation
PS5 30th Anniversary collection on a blue background
Echoing Xbox and Steam, PlayStation rolls out a beta program where you sign up to "test participating games for the PS5 console and PC" plus new features
One of the new Vault Hunters in Borderlands 4
"Don’t gaslight me": Borderlands 4 CEO Randy Pitchford begs fans to be optimistic about the upcoming FPS, otherwise "we'll all pay the price"
MobLand
First trailer for Guy Ritchie’s new crime drama sees Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan rule a brutal mafia empire
Ncuti Gatwa in Doctor Who season 2
Doctor Who fans think they've spotted a tease for surprise villains in new season 2 trailer
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 has an endgame problem, but a developer assures us "things are coming," they just can't say what yet because otherwise our expectations will be too high