Exclusive: J.J. Abrams hires 'Outlander' director Anna Foerster for thriller 'Lou'

J.J. Abrams has hired Anna Foerster to direct the dramatic thriller Lou for Paramount Pictures and his production company Bad Robot, Mashable has exclusively learned -- a gig that could help catapult the Outlander and Underworld: Blood Wars helmer into contention for bigger action projects down the road.

Lou follows a young mother who teams up with a mysterious older woman to help recover her abducted child. Abrams will produce the project with Braden Aftergood (Hell or High Water), though there's no start date in place just yet.

Foerster is a seasoned director of photography (White House Down) and frequent Roland Emmerich collaborator who recently made her directorial debut with Underworld: Blood Wars, which hits theaters Jan. 6. She has also directed several episodes of Starz's Outlander and CBS' Criminal Minds.

With Hollywood on the lookout for experienced female directors, Foerster has to be in consideration for top jobs around town now that she has a fanboy-friendly feature under her belt. And now that she's working with Abrams, perhaps Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy will add her to the list for future consideration in the Star Wars universe.

Kennedy ruffled feathers earlier this week when she told Variety:

We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do Star Wars, they’re set up for success. They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.

Foerster, who is also reportedly attached to direct a sequel to the 2011 Jake Gyllenhaal movie Source Code, is represented by WME.

Since directing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Abrams has produced Star Trek Beyond, 10 Cloverfield Lane and the Cloverfield-related thriller God Particle. He's also an executive producer on HBO's Westworld and one of the producers of Tom Cruise's upcoming Mission: Impossible 6.

Brian DePalma's former assistant Maggie McGowan Cohn wrote the Lou script, which was voted to the 2015 Black List of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays. The announcement video (featuring James Schamus) can be seen below.