Rachel Nichols cast as Tamara in CONAN

Every bit of good news concerning the production of the Conan reboot seems to be followed by a bit of bad news. I rejoiced when we learned Brett Ratner would NOT be directing. But I was less than enthused when we reportedFriday the 13th reboot director Marcus Nispel would be at the helm. I was glad they didn't go with Twilight's Kellan Lutz for the title role, but the casting of SG:A'sJason Momoawasn't a trade up. You can't go wrong with the casting of Mickey Rourke as Conan's dad, but hiring The Crow 4 writer Sean Hood to re-write the script isn't exactly a selling point for me, since we have no way of knowing whereher or not his Hercules script is good.

Luckily for us, our friends at LatinoReview have been breaking nothing but good news about Nispel's Conan reboot. Earlier this week they got word that Avatar's resident bad-ass, Stephen Lang, was offered the role of the main villain, Khalar Singh, in the film.

Now they're are reporting that G.I JOE's resident hottie, Rachel Nichols, has been cast in the lead female role of Tamara, the Queen’s servant, bodyguard and best friend, who joins Conan because of their mutual need to find Khalar Singh.

Nichols, who J.J. Abrams uses to steal our hearts in her roles on Alias, and as the the green skinned cadet in Start Trek, edged out other contenders like Cloverfield’s Jessica Lucas and the L Word’s Sarah Shahi.

Here's the Tamara's character description, according to the leaked casting breakdown from last year:

Tamara is 18 to 24 years old, Caucasian or Middle Eastern, open to all ethnicities; beautiful, studious, correct, a novitiate of a Greek influenced monastery. A master of martial arts, she has been trained to be the Queen’s servant, bodyguard and best friend. She and many other female bodyguards to the queen have been in hiding most of their lives because of the curse of Acheron, which would take the queen’s life to bring almost immortal power to its king. When Khalar Singh, a powerful warlord with ambitions to become the king of Acheron, storms the monastery and captures all of the novitiates, she is separated from Ilira, the one she must protect. With all of her strength and will, Tamara is determined to find and rescue her. She finds herself in league with Conan because of a mutual need to find Khalar Singh. She is not in the least intimidated by Conan’s size or grim demeanor and their alliance eventually blossoms into something that surprises them both… LEAD