With James Cameron handing over directorial duties on Battle Angel – the adaptation of Manga series Battle Angel Alita – to Robert Rodriguez, the movie is moving forward again. And, following a series of auctions and screen tests, it appears that Maze Runner's Rosa Salazar has scored the title role.
Though there has been no official announcement yet (with it being a holiday weekend in the US and UK, that's probably to be expected), the news comes from Collider.
Salazar has apparently won the role over the likes of Maika Monroe and Zendaya, who were both in contention along with a lot of other potential candidates.
Battle Angel is based on Yukito Kishiro's nine-volume manga (known as "Gun/Dream" in Japan): the story of an amnesiac female cyborg who becomes a bounty hunter, after being rescued from the rubbish dump and rebuilt by a professor of cybernetics. There was a short-lived stab at an anime in 1993, and the Cameron version has been in development long enough for him to produce test reels and switch up the technology, and we can assume fellow digital/green screen fan Rodriguez will be bringing all of his technical filmmaking know-how to the project.
The only potential sticking point we can find is Salazar's continued participation in the Maze Runner films, since the third, The Death Cure, is currently on hold due on star Dylan O'Brien's on-set injury.