Highlights
- Rick & Morty’s Dan Harmon and Heather Anne Campbell have taken over writing duties on Sony’s live-action One-Punch Man feature.
- The duo replaces the original scribes Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinker of Venom fame.
- One-Punch Man has been in development for two years, with Justin Lin set to direct the live-action version the popular manga and anime hit.
A Throw-Away Announcement
If you were scanning this Hollywood Reporter article about Justin Lin signing on to direct a new crime thriller you could easily miss the news that Dan Harmon (Community, Rick & Morty) and Heather Anne Campbell (The Eric Andre Show, Rick & Morty) have been tasked with “rewriting” the script for Sony’s live-action feature version of the anime One-Punch Man. It’s tucked away at the bottom of the article in a list of other Lin-helmed projects. But there it is.
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Big Comedy On The Job
A manga and anime hit, One-Punch Man is the story of Saitama, a superhero who can defeat any opponent with a single punch but seeks to find a worthy opponent after growing bored by a lack of challenges in his fight against evil. Lin was originally attached to direct back in 2022, with the script by Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner, who teamed on Jumanji: The Next Level and Venom. Avi Arad and Ari Arad of Arad Productions (Spider-Man film series, Iron Man, X-Men film series, Venom) were set to produce.
According to Deadline at the time, Sony was excited about the project as potential franchise material. Lin was supposedly working with Rosenberg and Pinker on a rewrite to be completed by the end of that year. It’s unclear what happened, but it’s 2024 now so it looks like that didn’t pan out.
Harmon and Campbell have worked together quite a bit, with Campbell serving as EP for Seasons 6 and 7 of the Harmon-created Rick & Morty. Campbell also wrote for the Eric Andre Show and SNL and is also a seasoned performer, having appeared on stage on Who’s Line Is It Anyway?
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Writers being replaced or rewritten is standard Hollywood protocol, so there’s no need to assume anybody is feeling aggro about all of this. But whatever transpired with the original scribes, this new team brings some pretty fancy comedy chops to the irreverent One-Punch Man.
Development Continues
Created in 2009 by Japanese artist ONE as a webcomic, One-Punch Man was a viral hit. After reaching even more success as a manga and winning Eisner and Harvey awards, the series became a critically acclaimed anime series, spawning video and mobile games along the way.
There is no casting information for the film, nor has any release date been reported. But the news that the film is being retooled by two of the top comedy writers in the game is a positive sign that there will be more news to come very soon. Until then you can re-watch or educate yourself on One-Punch Man on Hulu and other streaming platforms.
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