My Hero Academia Live‑Action Draws Emotional Inspiration from IT Prequel, Writer Jason Fuchs Says
Jason Fuchs, who co-runs HBO’s IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, also wrote the screenplay for Netflix and Legendary’s upcoming live-action My Hero Academia film, and he says the two projects share some thematic ground — especially when it comes to writing young, outsider characters.
Writing inspiration
Fuchs described a shared focus on young characters and emotional honesty. As he put it, “When it comes to writing young characters, you just want to write to the emotional truth of it.” In other words, he’s looking for the same kind of inner realism whether he’s working on a horror prequel or a superhero adaptation.
How the stories overlap
According to Fuchs, both projects center on outsiders who must confront big challenges. He said, “In Welcome to Derry, we have a group of outsiders who have to come together to defeat a great evil,” and added, “In My Hero Academia, we’re also writing about an outsider when it comes to someone like Deku, who doesn’t quite fit in because he doesn’t have the quirks of his contemporaries and peers. So yeah, I think there’s some commonality, but they’re such different stories that clearly go off into very different places.”
Meanwhile, Welcome to Derry arrives on HBO on October 26, and the series takes place 27 years before Andy Muschietti’s two IT films. 
My Hero Academia film status
The live-action My Hero Academia movie is still in early development. Fuchs confirmed he’s actively writing the screenplay, but there is no release date yet. For more reporting on the project, see this coverage of the film and its screenwriter from Crunchyroll.
Casting notes
Fuchs said casting hasn’t started because he’s still writing. He stated plainly, “I’m in the middle of writing it right now, so we’ve not gotten to the casting portion of it.” He did add a hopeful note about the performers he expects to find: “But I will say that when we get around to making My Hero Academia, we should be lucky enough to find young actors who are as talented and gifted as this group was, and just lovely humans, too.”
What to watch for
In short, the connection is primarily thematic and tied to the writer. For now, fans can expect updates about the film’s development and eventual casting as Fuchs moves the screenplay forward, while Welcome to Derry debuts later this month.
