Vivek J. Tiwary, who is currently mounting a Broadway musical based on Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill, has acquired television and film rights to Dave Roman’s Astronaut Academy graphic novels published by First Second.  The plan is to develop the science fiction coming-of-age saga into both a live-action television series and a feature film franchise, creating a sort of “Harry Potter in Space,” with tween and teen characters receiving astronaut training at space station school.

Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity came out in 2011 (see Snow Wildsmith’s “Review of Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity”), while Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry was published in 2013 (see “First Second’s Spring Kids Titles”).  Roman told Deadline that as a kid he was inspired by shows about kids who were out of the ordinary: “I grew up with The Goonies and Time Bandits, and later Buffy The Vampire Slayer — TV shows and films where misfits and oddballs are the heroes of big adventures.”