Clayface is starting to take shape. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Mickey 17 actress Naomi Ackie is in early talks to star in the upcoming DCU feature helmed by Speak No Evil director James Watkins.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ackie participated in a reading session just last week, in which she ended up the favorite for the role. If she officially joins the project — and according the outlet, negotiations are to begin soon — she will star alongside Tom Rhys Harries, a Welsh actor known for his work in British television, who is already set to play the title character.

Horror favorite Mike Flanagan — who is known for his own expansive body of work of adapting classics such as The Haunting of Hill House, and creating whole new stories in both the film and television spaces — penned the script.

The film is set to follow a rising star actor who ends up with a disfigured face at the hands of gangsters. In an effort to try to get his old life back, he visits a questionable scientist (THR called this character an “Elizabeth Holmes-style” analyst, which certainly garners a laugh and, furthermore, intrigues) who performs what appears to be a successful treatment on him… but of course, this is a body horror movie, so things simply cannot end there. Ackie’s potential role in the film is under wraps, but it seems like she could be playing the scientist, which would be wonderful casting.

According to the outlet, the film will have a similar feel to David Cronenberg’s beloved 1986 body horror classic The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. The Batman director Matt Reeves is producing the picture alongside Lynn Harris and DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran.

The movie is set to arrive in theaters on September 11, 2026 — and we can’t wait to see who else joins the fray for this one.

Image credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.