We haven't heard much about Universal Pictures' shared Monster Universe lately, which kicked off with last year's Dracula Untold. The franchise will continue with the studio's Untitled Mummy Reboot, which was recently shifted from a summer 2016 to a spring 2017 release date. All we know at this point is Alex Kurtzman is set to direct from a script by Jon Spaihts and Billy Ray, but no confirmed plot details have surfaced yet. Today, Heat Vision Blog has a new report which claims that the new mummy may be played by a woman.

The story is set in present day, and the report claims that the title character's gender will depend on casting. The studio currently has two different story options, one featuring a female monster and another featuring a male creature. Universal's original classic The Mummy, which was released in 1932, starred Boris Karloff as the title character, with Arnold Vosloo taking over the role for the studio's 1999 remake The Mummy and its 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns. Jet Li stepped in to portray The Mummy in 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

If the studio does cast a female, it would be the first time in franchise history that a woman has played The Mummy. Other actors such as Tom Tyler and Lon Chaney Jr. played the monster in sequels to the 1932 The Mummy. Casting is expected to begin on the reboot in the next few months, so we should find out more about this mysterious project quite soon.

While Dracula Untold is technically the first movie in Universal's monster reboot universe, this Untitled Mummy Reboot will be the first that is fully set in present day. The end credits of Dracula Untold showed Luke Evans' title character appearing in present day, setting the stage for the rest of these adventures to come. Universal also plans on using classic characters such as Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, the Bride of Frankenstein and vampire hunter Van Helsing.

A report surfaced last October that the Mummy reboot would be set in Iraq, following a group of Navy SEALS who discover an ancient tomb, but it isn't known if those story details are accurate, especially considering this new report about the potential for a female Mummy. If casting is set to begin in the next few months, hopefully we'll here more about who the front runners for this coveted role may be. Would you like to see a female Mummy?