Rosario Dawson has been cast in the lead role for DMZ, the upcoming HBO Max pilot directed by Ava DuVernay.

This is the second DC Comics project for the filmmaker. DMZ is based on the comic book series from the same name under DC’s Vertigo imprint.

The potential series is written and executive produced by showrunner Roberto Patino and directed and executive produced by DuVernay. The pilot, set at Warner Bros. Television, will begin filming this year.

The description: In the near future, America is embroiled in a bitter civil war, leaving Manhattan a demilitarized zone (DMZ), destroyed and isolated from the rest of the world. Leaping off the pages of the popular DC comic, Patino’s DMZ chronicles the harrowing journey of a fierce female medic who saves lives while desperately searching for her lost son. But as she contends with the gangs, militias, demagogues and warlords that control this lawless no man’s land, she becomes the unlikely source of what everyone here has lost…hope.

DuVernay’s ARRAY Filmworks produces the project in association with Warner Bros. Television, where DuVernay has an overall deal.

Deadline first broke the news of Dawson’s casting.

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Photo: Getty / Vertigo

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