"I don't know how I'm supposed to make a movie that is supposed to be the female version of 'The Expendables' without Gina Carano in it,"Shankar told the trade. "It would be like making Twix without caramel or Jamba Juice without jamba."
Dutch Southern will provide the screenplay for the ensemble which is expected to announce further cast members in the near future.
Carano, who appeared earlier this year in Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, will next appear in Justin Lin's Fast & Furious 6.