After months of rumors and speculation, it looks like director Paul Feig is finally starting to assemble his cast for his ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot. The name at the top of his list should surprise no one: Melissa McCarthy, who he previously directed to an Oscar nomination and huge box office success in ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The Heat,' and who is in early talks to star in the film.

The news comes to us via The Hollywood Reporter, but it’s far from a surefire deal. McCarthy is one of the busiest actresses working in Hollywood today and if she’s going to lead a new team of female Ghostbusters, she’s going to have to carve out some room in her schedule. THR speculates that that she could shoot her next film, ‘Michelle Darnell’ in March, freeing her up for a June start on ‘Ghostbusters,’ which gives her enough time to return to her sitcom, ‘Mike and Molly,’ in the Fall. Yeah, like we said: she’s a busy lady.

McCarthy has been rumored to be involved in the new ‘Ghostbusters’ ever since Feig took the gig and revealed that he was planning to cast funny women in the roles of spirit-fighting, proton pack-wielding, supernatural exterminators. And we certainly can’t complain. McCarthy is a hilarious woman who often finds herself saddled with incredibly unfunny movies (‘Identity Thief,’ anyone?). A ‘Ghostbusters’ movie directed by one of the most reliable comic voices in the industry sounds a helluva lot better than ‘Tammy.’

While McCarthy does seem to be on the top of the film’s wish list, the original article does specify that this is far from a sure thing. Key meetings need to take place and if the schedule doesn’t work out perfectly, McCarthy will have to step away. Still, she’s a big box office draw and Feig surely sees her as a good luck charm at this point. We imagine Sony will fight to get her on board.

The article also mentions that Emma Stone, Jillian Bell and Cecily Strong are being considered for additional roles while Jennifer Lawrence and Rebel Wilson no longer appear to be part of their plans. If we’re seeing this many names already, we can probably expect to start hearing some more official announcements in the coming month or two.

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