Just yesterday, we brought you the unfortunate news about Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain (The Help, Lawless) dropping out of director Shane Black‘s forthcoming installment of Marvel Studios‘ wildly successful Iron Man franchise, opposite Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley.

Now, Variety reports that actress Rebecca Hall (The Town, Lay the Favorite) is in negotiations with Disney and Marvel Studios to take over Chastain’s role as the “sexy scientist every bit as smart as Tony Stark” that plays a pivotal role in the creation of the nanotechnology, known as Extremis.

Iron Man 3 is slated to hit theaters on May 3rd, 2013.