With Harry Potter now safely graduated from Hogwarts, Warner Bros. is continually scouring bookshelves and upcoming title lists to find possible heroic replacements. The studio – and Potter producer David Heyman, who will shepherd the new development – thinks it might have a candidate in The Planet Thieves.

Dan Krokos’ novel caught the studios’ eye after agents pitched it to film executives as Harry Potter, but set in space. The book, which won’t even see the inside of shops until next May, follows the adventures of a young space cadet thrust into the middle of Earth’s battle to survive against an alien race. His ship is attacked by extra-terrestrials who are looking to gain control of the weapon carried aboard.

Right now, it’s all at a very early stage with no writer or director attached and not a hint about whom might be cast. But Heyman is producing alongside Benderspink films and Warners will shove this into the ring along with various other titles it has picked up. The success or failure of the similarly-themed Ender’s Game will likely be a factor as to whether this one gets off the launchpad.