Deadline.com is reporting that The CW’s pilot Nikita has gotten permission to start making offers to potential staff in anticipation of a series order.

Sounds like this one is happening…

The CW formally announces their Fall schedules and pickups on the morning of May 20.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that actress Maggie Q is “in talks” to play the lead role in The CW’s Nikita pilot.

The Hawaiian-born actress’s previous credits include Live Free Or Die Hard.

The THR headline says “Maggie Q To Star As ‘Nikita’” though the article says “in talks”; we’ll see how this all pans out, though if it got as far as the trades, it’s likely to be happening.

The role of Nikita was originally played by Anne Parillaud in the original La Femme Nikita film in 1990. In 1993, Bridget Fonda appeared in the title role for the American remake and Peta Wilson starred as the lead in the original La Femme Nikita television series which ran for five seasons on the USA Network.

Here’s some as-yet-unconfirmed gossip (so please view it as such).

The @Blabznews Twitter feed posted this tidbit tonight regarding actor James Frain (The Tudors):

#JamesFrain is talking about his involvement in “#Nikita”, a 1 hour pilot produced by #McG, Peter Johnson, and Craig Silverstein for the CW

Could he be the first actor cast for The CW’s Nikita – “Michael” perhaps? Stay tuned… as the pilot is soon to shoot casting announcements should be coming soon.

Frain will be seen next in Season 3 of True Blood.

UPDATE: Shane West has been cast as the male lead in Nikita, which means it is possible this was nothing more than a rumor. Sorry, folks!

Casting is now beginning for The CW’s Nikita, and with the start of the process comes some news about the series.

In this version of the story, as previously reported, Nikita has gotten away from the organization that once brought her in, and it sounds like her onetime captors are determined to bring her back. There’s a character named “Alex” who is being cast, who has an origin similar to Nikita’s, in that she was imprisoned for a crime she says she did not commit and then had a faked suicide that brought her into the fold.

Like before, there IS a character named Michael, who might be the same character from the earlier La Femme Nikita series reinvented. It has not yet been said or announced whether or not this series follows the continuity of the USA Network series, though it is unlikely; however, he does have a “past” with Nikita.

It sounds like the parallels between the life of Nikita, who got out – and Alex, who didn’t – will be explored. It sounds as though Nikita is as much, if not more, of a presence in this as Alex is.

Other characters of this new take (names subject to change) are “Amanda,” a character who sounds a bit like the original series’ “Madeline,” an associate of Michael’s named Percy, and Thom and Jaden, two other young recruits to the program alongside Alex.

The people Alex is recruited to work for – the group who Nikita escaped from – is referred to here as “The Division.”

Talk about this project on the KryptonSite Forum.

The CW’s La Femme Nikita pilot already has a director assigned, as revealed by Josef Adalian of TheWrap.com.

Danny Cannon, who directed the original pilots for CSI and CSI: NY, will be directing the Nikita pilot which will be produced by Supernatural and Human Target‘s McG.

You can read Adalian’s full article here.

THR has revealed that The CW has put in a pilot order for a new television series based on La Femme Nikita. Peter Johnson and McG, both of Supernatural, will be executive producers.

This is not the first time La Femme Nikita has been done as a TV series. A previous adaptation ran from 1997 to 2001 on the USA Network. The concept is based on a French film titled Nikita about a young criminal who is trained to be an assassin by a government organization. It was remade as a film in 1993 called Point Of No Return which starred Bridget Fonda. THR reports that in this version, Nikita goes rogue and a new assassin is trained to replace her.

The appointment of an action drama to The CW’s development is a welcome one, as most of the other announced projects from the network seem to fall into the network’s tried-and-true “rich white girls” formula. This could be an opportunity for the network to do something different and exciting, much like The Vampire Diaries had been for them in this past year.

Talk about this development on the KryptonSite Forum.