Rosa Salazar may star in Battle Angel for Cameron and Rodriguez

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

James Cameron has held the rights to make a live action adaptation of the manga Battle Angel Alita for around sixteen years now, but the project has been kept on the backburner while Cameron developed other things – namely the AVATAR saga. The AVATAR movies are going to keep Cameron busy for years to come, so last year he decided to hand the helm of BATTLE ANGEL over to Robert Rodriguez.

Cameron will still be producing the film and has handled the screenplay adaptation of the story, which is set in the 26th century and centers on 

an amnesiac female cyborg who is rescued from a scrapyard by a doctor, rebuilt with no memory of her previous life excepting her kickass martial arts skills, and becomes a bounty hunter tracking down vicious criminals. 

While the filmmakers work on trying to bring the budget down a bit from its current $175 – $200 million range so they can get the greenlight from 20th Century Fox, the search has been on for the lead actress. The choice was recently said to have come down between Rosa Salazar, Maika Monroe, Bella Thorne, and Zendaya Coleman.

According to Collider, the choice has been made and the actress who will star as Alita is Rosa Salazar.

Salazar has been working steadily since 2010 and may be best known for her appearances on the TV series Parenthood and in the films INSURGENT and MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS. Horror fans may recognize her from a four episode stint on the first season of American Horror Story.