For ages now it seems that Robert Rodriguez‘s Red Sonja has been sitting on the proverbial shelf. Actress Rose McGowan appeared in artwork for the film, and since then, nadda.

The latest news is that Rodriguez is out, and director Simon West is in. Along with that change, is the fact that McGowan is apparently outta the film too…

Empire Reports:

Teaser artwork was produced showing McGowan in costume, but the rest was ultimately silence, and as of last spring, the whole shebang had basically been scrapped and started again with a new team.

Which brings us to today, and Avi Lerner’s confirmation that Sonja is still very much a going concern. “We didn’t want to start it until we’d finished Conan,” he tells us, but with confidence in Marcus Nispel’s revivified warrior growing, and a sequel already in development, Lerner reveals that “We will definitely shoot Red Sonja in between Conan and Conan 2. We already chose the director: an English guy called Simon West.”

It sounds as if West will get going on Sonja (if you’ll excuse the expression) after he completes The Medallion with Nicolas Cage. The second half of Lerner’s bombshell is not a done deal however, although it does sound entirely plausible.

“We’re talking to a few girls for the role of Sonja,” he says, “but we just finished a movie called Drive Angry with Amber Heard, and I want to see her. She’s my favourite for the role.”

Mandy Lane as a sword-wielding, free-running warrioress? Oh hells yes. “Amber is the new Red Sonja… but she doesn’t know it yet!” laughs the producer. “When you write it she’ll get the shock of her life! She’ll call me and say ‘How dare you talk to Empire before you talk to me?!’”

Wow, did anyone tell McGowan that she’s out of a job, or are the internet reports gonna do the studio’s job for them?

Kinda slimy if you asked me, I was sooooo looking forward to seeing Rose as Sonja. Ah well…