by: S. Scott Stanikmas – Senior Staff Writer

Writer Alex Garland’s directorial debut Ex Machina was a critical success and it took science fiction to a whole new level. His next project, an adaptation of the Jeff VanderMeer novel Annihilation, looks like it’s going to be just as big and crazy. Natalie Portman joined the project back in May, and as the project creeps nearer and nearer to shooting it looks like the cast is growing.

The Wrap is reporting that Gina Rodriguez, the lead actress from the CW’s hot show Jane the Virgin, is currently in talks for the film.

Rodriguez has been blowing up big in Hollywood recently. She recently won a Golden Globe for her role on Jane the Virgin (a first for parent network CW); just finished shooting for Peter Berg’s Deepwater Horizon and was rumored to be up for a role in Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Episode VIII.

If Rodriguez does decide to go with Annihilation that may put her out of contention for Star Wars, as the former starts shooting in spring of 2016, which would conflict with the latter.

I’ve read Annihilation and it is a nasty little story that sinks its hooks into you and makes you crave answers. I read it in just over three days and was so compelled to find out what happens that I actually drove to three different bookstores to find the second and third books in the series.

I’m eager to see what Garland can do with this material, as Ex Machina was one of my top three films of this year so far.  It’s a real cerebral piece of work but I have faith we might be looking at another hit from the filmmaker.