Natalie Portman in talks for “ Pale Blue Dot”

Natalie Portman is in talks to replace Reese Witherspoon as the lead in Fox Searchlight's drama “Pale Blue Dot”.

Witherspoon departed the role last November due to scheduling conflicts with Season 2 of “Big Little Lies”, though she will continue to produce with Bruna Papandrea.

 “Fargo” and “Legion” creator Noah Hawley is directing from a script by Brian C Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi.

“Pale Blue Dot” follows a successful female astronaut who, after coming back home from a mission in space, starts to unravel when confronted by her seemingly perfect American dream life. The film explores the theory that astronauts who spend long periods of time in space begin to lose their sense of reality when they return home.

Searchlight will now look to find Portman's male co-star and hopes to get the film in motion this spring, now that Hawley is done shooting his FX series “Legion”. FX recently said at its Television Critics Association panel that his other show, “Fargo”, would not return till 2019, which would give Hawley plenty of time to shoot the film.

The film puts Portman back in her wheelhouse of prestige dramas following her 2017 Oscar nomination for playing first lady Jackie Kennedy in “Jackie”. She was also recently seen in Terrence Malick's “Song to Song”, and can be seen next in Paramount and Skydance's “Annihilation”.