Laura Donnelly has been cast in the lead role of Joss Whedon’s new TV series The Nevers.

The Belfast-born actress, who recently starred in The Ferryman in the West End, is best known for her roles in The Fall and Outlander.

She confirmed the news on Twitter, writing: “I’m so thrilled to finally be able to announce this!”

Laura Donnelly
Laura Donnelly will star in The Nevers (Ian West/PA)

The series will follow in the footsteps of Whedon’s most famous TV series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and is described by US broadcaster HBO as “a fantastical story featuring powerful female characters”.

The channel said: “The show will be an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world.”

Whedon, who also penned The Avengers and Avengers: Age Of Ultron, previously said: “The Nevers is maybe the most ambitious narrative I’ve created.

“It’s been too long since I created an entirely new fictional world.”

Donnelly made her on-screen debut in 2005 in the Channel 4 drama Sugar Rush and has also had roles in Casualty, Merlin and the Sky Atlantic series Britannia, as well as the upcoming biopic Tolkien.