Actress Kerry Washington has reportedly emerged as a frontrunner to land the role of female assassin Domino in the forthcoming Deadpool sequel.

Ryan Reynolds is currently working on the follow up to last year's (16) hugely successful movie, in which he tackled the titular anti-hero and his alter ego Wade Wilson, and producers at Twentieth Century Fox are now searching for the perfect person to feature as former mercenary Domino, aka Neena Thurman.

According to the YouTube series That Hashtag Show, Sienna Miller and Belle actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw have already passed on the part, and now movie bosses are eying Django Unchained star Kerry for the role.

If the new mom is offered the gig and accepts, it will mark her return to the comic book world after previously starring in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer as Alicia Masters, the love interest of Michael Chiklis' superhero Ben Grimm, aka The Thing.

Domino isn't the only rumored new addition to the Deadpool sequel - longtime ally Cable is also expected to be introduced to fans in the next movie.

Recent reports suggest Pierce Brosnan has landed the role of Cable, and Ryan appeared to tease the news in a photo posted on social media last month (Jan17), when he joked around with the former James Bond star and Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman, each posing to act out the proverb "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil".

Ryan simply captioned the shot, "Wolvie. Bond. Wade", and offered no explanation for their get-together.

Deadpool 2 is set to be released next year (18). It will be directed by David Leitch following the departure of original filmmaker Tim Miller, who stepped away from the project in October (16) due to creative differences with Reynolds.