Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images For Louis Vuitton

The long-awaited live action biopic of Barbie has inched ever so closely to a release date today with the announcement that Emma Mackey is joining the all-star cast. According to an insider for The Sunit is unclear what her role is but it is a “closely guarded” secret which is believed to launch her feature film career. The character may also give away the plot which has not been revealed yet.

Mackey will join Margot Robbie who plays Barbie and Ryan Gosling who will portray Ken. The French-British actress rose to stardom thanks to her role in Netflix hit Sex Education. She also appears in Disney’s Death On The Nile alongside Gal Gadot. It’s safe to say she’s been in good company.

“Emma’s name has become hot property and everyone wants a piece of her,” the source said. “She was Jacqueline De Bellefort in the new film version of Death On The Nile and plays Emily Bronte in the biopic about the writer’s life, which is out this year.”

They continued, “And after she auditioned for Barbie she was snapped up. The directors think she will fit in perfectly with Margot and Ryan.”

Credit: Chris Pizzello-Pool/Getty Images

The Barbie biopic which is directed by Greta Gerwig (Little Women) is believed to be more dystopian than we might have first expected. “It comes with a lot of baggage,” Robbie said in an August 2021 interview. “[There’s] a lot of nostalgic connections. But with that come[s] a lot of exciting ways to attack it. People generally hear ‘Barbie’ and think, ‘I know what that movie is going to be,’ and then they hear that Greta Gerwig is writing and directing it, and they’re like, ‘Oh, well, maybe I don’t…’”

The cast also features America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) and Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) in unknown roles. The film is believed to be filming already with images from on set featuring a bleach-blonde Gosling.

The film is expected to see a theatrical release in 2023.

Tile credit: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for miu miu