British actress Emma Mackey (“Barbie,” “Sex Education”) has landed the female lead opposite Glen Powell in J.J. Abrams’ forthcoming, untitled Warner Bros. movie.
Details about both Mackey’s role and the project in general are being kept under wraps. The film also stars Jenna Ortega.
Not much is known about Abrams’ new film except that it is not a time travel movie (as had been previously speculated) and that Abrams both wrote the script and will be directing. The project will be produced by Abrams and his production company Bad Robot.
Mackey, who first broke out with her role as Maeve Wiley on Netflix’s “Sex Education,” most recently starred in Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-winning “Barbie.” She is also the 2023 recipient of BAFTA’s Rising Star Award.
Other credits include playing famed novelist and poet Emily Brontë in Frances O’Connor’s Warner Bros. drama “Emily,” and Kenneth Branagh’s “Death on the Nile.”
Next up, Mackey will star opposite Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps in the mother-daughter drama “Hot Milk,” the adaptation of the bestselling novel by Deborah Levy, which also marks the directorial debut of Ida and “She Said” screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Mackey will also star as the title role in James L. Brooks’ first movie in 13 years, “Ella McCay,” for 20th Century Studios. She will star alongside the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri, Kumail Nanjiani and Spike Fearn.
Emma Mackey is repped by CAA, Johnson Shapiro and Ziffren Brittenham.
