An adaptation of Neal Shusterman’s Challenger Deep is bound for Disney+

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Superhero shows and original Disney classics aren't the only things coming to Disney+ once the exclusive service launches this November. Nope, alongside Marvel's serialized adventures and live-action remakes of films like LADY & THE TRAMP and NOELLE, the House of Mouse has snagged the rights for an adaptation of Neal Shusterman's Challenger Deep, a novel that tenderly embraces mental illness.

Here's the description via Deadline, who exclusively broke the news about the deal Thursday afternoon:

Caden Bosch lives in two worlds; one is a life with family, friends and high school. It’s all good, but he’s paranoid for no reason, thinks people are trying to kill him, and demonstrates obsessive compulsive behaviors. In his other world, he’s part of the crew for a pirate captain on a voyage to the Challenger Deep, the ocean’s deepest trench. There is a captain and his mutinous parrot, and mutterings of his fellow shipmates as they sail uncharted waters toward unknown dangers, with Caden unable to understand. The author based the book on his own son’s schizoaffective disorder.

Penning the adaptation is TOY STORY 4 co-writer Will McCormack, which has Trevor Engelson and Josh McGuire producing courtesy of Underground. Disney's DUMBO producer Justin Springer will also produce, with Alison Erlikhman acting as overseer of the project.

As a New York Times best-selling novel, Shusterman's Challenger Deep has been hailed by many as a tour de force of the literary world. No director has been assigned to the project at this time.