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Zoe Saldana is in talks to play the female lead in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy big screen adaptation, says THR.

Assuming an agreement is reached, Saldana will play a character named Gamora (image below-left), described as “the green-skinned humanoid who is the last of a species that was exterminated by a race known as the Badoon. She also happens to be a skilled assassin.

nullThe character sounds like a combination of Neytiri (the character she played in Avatar) and Cataleya, the character she played in Colombiana.

Ms Saldana will join Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, and Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, in the movie adaptation of the superhero movie franchise (potentially).

James Gunn is directing the movie, with a June shoot start date eyed, with Disney releasing it on August 1, 2014. 

Another intriguing career move here for Zoe. She’s certainly no stranger to sci-fi/fantasy material – Avatar and Star Trek to start – as well as action adventure movies (Colombiana, The Losers). So she should be very comfortable here, and playing the female lead should only raise her mainstream profile and box office appeal even higher.

In addition to the much talked about Nina Simone film she stars in, Zoe also option the mystery/thriller novel Hell Or High Water (the debut novel from Joy Castro), via her production company Saldana Productions, which she runs with her sister Cisley Saldana.

She also has the ensemble crime drama Blood Ties and the thriller Out Of The Furnace coming soon.