Just today news dropped that Scarlett Johansson has been offered the lead role of Motoko Kusanagi in Rupert Sander’s (dir. Snow White and the Huntsman, 2012) upcoming live-action American adaptation of the anime Ghost in the Shell (1995).

The internet, however, has been fairly divided about this news.

Motoko Kusanagi

Some people are very excited over Johansson taking on the role, impressed by recent performances in The Avengers (2012) and this summer’s Lucy (2014). These fans are confident in Johansson’s ability to play a powerful and badass female character – which, make no mistake, Kusanagi 100% IS. However, there is also a large, vocal group who are not terribly excited by the prospects of ScarJo taking the reigns of such a character.

Arguments against this casting? For starters, Lucy hasn’t been met with universal acclaim. The movie has done well financially, finishing opening weekend with $43.8 million and has grossing over $126 million… but overall has met lukewarm to bad reviews, scoring a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.5/10 on IMDB. Also, the movie has been heavily criticized for asserting the proven-false assumption that humans only use 10% of their brains. So, not stellar.

Additionally, other complaints have come in that, well, Ghost in the Shell is a Japanese IP… casting a white actress could be seen as disrespectful to the source text and some are making accusations that the casting choice is an example of a racist attempt to ‘white-wash’ the popular franchise for American audiences.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of popular English-speaking Asian actresses (good job, Hollywood) – so we’re taking a look at a handful of both Asian and white actresses who might be appropriate alternatives to Scarlett Johansson for the role of of Motoko Kusanagi:

1. Katee Sackhoff

If you’ve seen any episode of Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009), you’ll know that Katee Sakhoff’s Lieutenant Kara “Starbuck” Thrace is a total badass. Kusinagi is assertive, attractive, and ready to hunt down whatever criminals await in the cybernetic future; Sakhoff has long proven herself to up for aggressive roles in both Battlestar and the recent Riddick (2013) movie, so this could be an ideal next role.

2. Lucy Liu

Between her roles in Kill Bill (2003) and Elementary (2012 – ), Liu is one of the most popular and recognized on this list and definitely would seem to be a strong contender for the role. While the stoic and muscular cyborg might be a challenge, it’s a challenge we’d love to see Liu rise to and totally own.

3. Gwendoline Christie

With recent acclaim for her role as Brienne of Tarth in HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011 – ), Gwendoline Christie is just the sort of large and powerful woman who could really rock the role. Let’s not forget that she bit a man’s ear off in the last season of GoT…

4. Rinko Kukuichi

Rinko Kukuichi has been slowly proving herself in western cinema since Pacific Rim (2013) and also has a fairly extensive history acting abroad. She may be smaller than most imagine Kusinagi, but she’s proven herself to hold the right levels of ‘UMPF’ that the role would require.

5. Antje Traue

Most people would only know German-born actress Antje Traue from her character Faora-Ul in Man of Steel (2013) – and, you know what? That’s enough. Faora-Ul is already sort of powerful cyborg character and, regardless of how good the film was, the Traue casting was pretty perfect.

So, those are our picks for an alternative Motoko Kusanagi. Did we miss anyone who might be better?