By John Nugent | Posted 26 Dec 2016

Scarlett Johansson has played a super-advanced AI living in a mobile phone in Her – but in Ghost In The Shell, the live-action re-imagining of the seminal cyberpunk anime, she is a human soul (or "ghost") in a cyborg brain and body. "I've been a person without a body, now I'm a mind in a synthetic body," Johansson told Empire for the new issue (on sale December 29). "Eventually I'll go back to playing a body and brain together," she laughs.

Very much looking like she means futuristic business in our exclusive new image, Johansson plays The Major, the head of the mysterious cyber-terrorism unit known as Section 9, and in this image she appears to be hunting down some sort of future crime.

"This is a ride that's not just explosive and exciting, but also curious and reflective", she says of the new film, which is being directed by Rupert Sanders. Drawing on material from across the franchise, Sanders assures us that "this isn't the shit Hollywood version."

For more on Ghost In The Shell, plus an absolute deluge of the usual film-related fun, be sure to pick up the new issue of Empire, arriving in all good and evil newsagents from December 29. Want to get exclusive subscriber-only covers delivered days before everyone else? You’ll want to subscribe to Empire – including the option of an extremely futuristic digital subscription.

Ghost In The Shell, meanwhile, arrives in cinemas from the exceptionally futuristic date of March 31, 2017.

• Here's what you need to know about Ghost In the Shell's history

• See the making-of featurette

• First look at Scarlett Johansson in Ghost In The Shell