Both
The Hollywood Reporter and
Variety are reporting that Florence Pugh (
Fighting With My Family) has landed the highly-coveted second lead role, opposite 4x Golden Globe-nominee Scarlett Johansson, in Marvel's
Black Widow.
While details on her exact part are being kept under wraps for now, she will be playing a spy on the same skill level as Natasha Romanoff (Johansson), but won't share her moral compass.
The long-awaited standalone is said to be an international espionage story, following Natasha as she works in her role as a top-level spy and assassin for the KGB, although it should be noted that it remains unclear whether the film will be a prequel, flashing back to Nat's pre-Avenger days, or a film following the events of next month's highly-anticipated
Avengers: Endgame.
Production is slated to begin this June in London with Cate Shortland (
Lore) in the director's chair with a screenplay from Jac Shaeffer (
The Hustle), who turned in the first draft, and Ned Benson (
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby),
who is recently believed to have completed rewrites.
According to Variety's
Justin Kroll, Pugh had been at the top of Marvel's list since her audition in December, but they still decided to open up their casting search and had been meeting with several actresses over the past several weeks, including 3x Academy Award-nominee Saoirse Ronan (
Lady Bird) and presumably
Emma Watson (
Harry Potter). However, it appears Pugh beat out both for the part.
Florence Pugh is best known for her breakout role in
Fighting with My Family earlier this year and her past credits include
The Little Drummer Girl,
The Outlaw King,
Lady Macbeth,
The Commuter, and
The Falling. She can be seen next in Ari Aster's
Hereditary follow-up
Midsommar and Greta Gerwig's
Little Woman, where she'll actually star alongside Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, and Meryl Streep.
No release date has been set, but with casting fully underway, either May 1, 2020 or November 6, 2020 would seem like a fairly safe bet.