Actress Matilda Lutz, best known for her starring roles in 2017’s Revenge and Zone 414, is announced to play the titular “She-Devil with a sword” in the long-gestating feature Red Sonja, adapted from the sword and sorcery comic book series.

In additional news, filming has finally, after many delays, begun. The ensemble cast includes Robert Sheehan as Draygan, Michael Bisping as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak, Eliza Matengu as Amarak, and Wallis Day as Red Sonja’s wicked half-sister, Annisia. M.J. Basset (Ash vs Evil Dead, Solomon Kane) helms the feature. Jill Soloway was previously attached to write and direct.

Killjoys and Ant-Man and the Wasp star Hannah John-Kamen was due to play the lead role of Red Sonja but had to step aside because of scheduling conflicts. Plot details are predictably being kept hush-hush.

“I’ve wanted to make a Red Sonja movie since I was a teenager — she has been a powerful presence for me and a character that I have always wanted to bring to the screen with my own voice and vision. When I met Matilda Lutz, I knew she had all the magic I was looking for and could see the complexity and depth she would bring to Sonja,” wrote M.J. Bassett in a statement.

The character was also played by Brigitte Nielsen in the 1985 film Red Sonja, which co-starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as High Lord Kalidor.