When young actress Saoirse Ronan wowed audiences with her turn in 2007’s Atonement, we expected many more fantastic performances to follow. She’s done swell work in the meantime, with a standout role in last year’s Hanna, and now she’s gearing up to tackle one hell of a character. Deadline reports that Ronan is attached to play the title role in Working Title’s Mary Queen of Scots. There’s no word on how much of the dignitary’s life Michael Hirst’s (Elizabeth) script encompasses, but Mary was named Queen of Scotland when she was just nine months old. Hit the jump for more.

Mary’s life story is wondrously complex, but her demise began when her marriage to her cousin ended in his murder. She then wed the man many believed responsible for her late husband’s murder, resulting in an uprising against the couple. Mary was forced to abdicate her throne to her infant son, and when her attempt to gain control once again failed she fled to the protection of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. As Mary had once claimed to be “the rightful queen” of England (and given that many Catholics embraced this view), Elizabeth quickly had Mary imprisoned and ultimately executed.

Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are currently talking to directors with an eye towards beginning production next year, but I can’t help but hope for another reunion between Ronan and her Hanna and Atonement director Joe Wright. Hopefully we hear firm word on who’ll be taking the helm soon. The actress recently wrapped the Stephenie Meyer sci-fi adaptation The Host and will be seen in Neil Jordan’s vampire pic Byzantium.

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