EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures, once shaky about the prospects of the Marc Forster-directed zombie extravangza World War Z, is now on track to make the picture this summer. I’m told that Mireille Enos, star of the AMC hit series The Killing, is in talks to play Karin Lane, the wife of Gerard Lane, the character played by Brad Pitt in the adaptation of the Max Brooks book. In The Killing, she plays Sarah Linden, the homicide detective trying to solve the murder of Rosie Larsen. This will be the first major-studio starring role for Enos, who starred for three seasons on HBO’s Big Love. She’s repped by Innovative and Authentic.

There had been speculation that Paramount would not bite on the Plan B-produced WWZ because it has a $125 million budget. But as Deadline reported, the studio brought in a couple of risk-sharing partners that will include David Ellison’s Skydance. That cleared the way for the movie version of the book that looks at the aftermath of a global zombie war 10 years after the conflict, with a researcher for the UN Postwar Commission interviewing survivors in countries that were decimated by flesh-eaters. It was thorough, and a thoroughly creepy read. Matt Carnahan wrote the most recent draft of the script, after earlier drafts by Michael J. Straczynski.