Alita: Battle Angel Adds X-Men Actress Lana Condor To Stellar Cast

X-Men: Apocalypse star Lana Condor has agreed terms to join Alita: Battle Angel, the long-awaited manga adaptation helmed by Robert Rodriguez.

First reported by Deadline, it’s understood the up-and-comer has boarded the futuristic sci-fi pic as Koyomi, and will be rubbing shoulders with Rosa Salazar, Jackie Earle Haley, Deadpool star Ed Skrein, Eiza Gonzalez and Christoph Waltz – Luke Cage and House of Cards actor Mahershala Ali is said to be in contention for a villain role – when production kicks off in Austin, Texas later this month.

Based on Yukito Kishiro’s nine-volume manga Battle Angel Alita, Salazar will be taking point as the titular Alita, an amnesiac female cyborg plucked from the dumps of Scrapyard and rebuilt anew by Waltz’s seasoned doctor. With only her deadly knowledge of martial arts to her name, Salazar’s hardened lead begins to weed out the city’s criminal underbelly.

James Cameron, who was initially in line to take the reins on 20th Century Fox’s adaptation, penned the script alongside Laeta Kalogridis, though exactly what volume both writers have adapted, or if they’ve taken The Dark Tower route and designed a sequel to Kishiro-san’s source material, is still up for question.

Alita: Battle Angel is pegged for launch on July 20, 2018, at which point Fox will premiere Rodriguez’s manga flick in IMAX. As for Condor, she just recently wrapped filming the Peter Berg-directed thriller Patriots Day, and will be seen opposite Mark Wahlberg when the film muscles its way into Oscar territory on December 21.