Hot off her acclaimed turn in The Farewell, rising star Awkwafina has signed on to play the title role in Legendary Pictures' fantasy film The Last Adventure of Constance Verity, based on the book of the same name by A. Lee Martinez.

Jon Shestack (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past) is producing, and he has tapped John Raffo (The Relic) to write the script. Legendary's Jon Silk and Jay Ashenfelter will oversee the project for the company.

Martinez's novel follows Constance Verity, who for mysterious reasons, was thrust into a battle with the supernatural from the moment she was born, and has been saving the world from disaster ever since. She’s exhausted and wants to sample what she has missed out on -- a boyfriend, a normal job, best friends. But it’s not easy to walk away from a life of adventure when you're the chosen one.

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Image via Warner Bros.

It sounds like early days for this project, but I'm curious who Legendary and Shestack anoint "the chosen one" as far as a director is concerned. It'd be great to see Awkwafina re-team with her Farewell director Lulu Wang, though I'm welcome another female filmmaker as well, since they're often overlooked for big-budget fantasy films.

Awkwafina has been on a roll since her breakout turns in Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean's Eight, lining up roles in Marvel's Shang-Chi, Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (she'll voice Scuttle the seagull), Sony's Jumanji sequel and Ryan Murphy's Netflix musical The Prom, which will see her co-star alongside Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. By then, Awkwafina could be an Oscar winner herself, based on the rapturous response to The Farewell, which is expected to receive a major awards push from A24. She's represented by UTA and Artists First.

Saga Press published The Last Adventure of Constance Verity in 2016, as well as a sequel in 2018. Martinez is currently writing the third book in the series. He's repped by Gersh and CookeMcDermid Literary Management, while Raffo is repped by APA.

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Image via Sony Pictures
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Image via Sundance