“Nikita” star Maggie Q will play another powerful woman — a female pirate — in an upcoming TV project. Deadline.com reports that the actress will play Ching Shih, who headed one of China’s most powerful crime syndicates, in the limited series “Red Flag.”

Ching controlled the South China Sea in the early 1800s with more than 1,500 vessels and 100,000 sailors, the story notes.

“It’s exciting to have the opportunity to share Ching Shih’s real-life story with audiences that are both familiar and unfamiliar with her prominent history,” Maggie Q said.

The project is from Steven Jensen’s Independent Television Group, Mike Medavoy & Benjamin Anderson of Phoenix Pictures, and Fred Fuchs, the piece notes.

Maggie Q