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The Promised Neverland Live-Action Film Unveils 4 More Stills, Scriptwriter

The official website for the live-action film of Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu's The Promised Neverland manga revealed four new stills for the film on Friday. The site also revealed that Noriko Gotou is penning the film's script. Gotou previously worked with director Yūichirō Hirakawa on the live-action Erased film.

19-year-old actress Minami Hamabe (live-action anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day special's Menma, live-action Saki film's title role, Hello World film's Ruri Ichigyō) is starring in the film as Emma (center in photograph below). 13-year-old Jyo Kairi (live-action My Little Monster and Erased) and 17-year-old Rihito Itagaki (Show By Rock!! stage musical) play Ray (right) and Norman (left), respectively.

The film will open in winter 2020.

The film will shift the story's rule about orphans having to "ship" at the age of 12 to the age of 16. Hamabe is a self-professed fan of the manga who bought the print volumes and the e-book version, and she complimented the director and the staff for realizing the story's world. She vowed to do her best for everyone who loved the manga.

Viz Media publishes the original manga in North America, and it describes the story:

Emma, Norman and Ray are the brightest kids at the Grace Field House orphanage. And under the care of the woman they refer to as “Mom,” all the kids have enjoyed a comfortable life. Good food, clean clothes and the perfect environment to learn—what more could an orphan ask for? One day, though, Emma and Norman uncover the dark truth of the outside world they are forbidden from seeing.

Shirai and Demizu launched The Promised Neverland manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in August 2016, and the series has entered its final arc as of September 2018. Shirai had stated in an interview in August 2018 that Shirai would like the story to "not extend too much" in accordance with the story's editor, adding that the length of the manga should be "ideally 20 to 30 volumes long." The magazine teased in August that the manga has entered the "climax" of the final arc.

Shueisha published the manga's 15th volume in Japan on August 2. Viz Media publishes the manga in North America.

The manga won the Best Shōnen Manga award at the 63rd Shogakukan Manga Awards in January, was nominated for the 11th Manga Taisho awards in January, and was nominated for the 22nd Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in February. The series also topped the 2018 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook's list of manga for male readers last December.

An anime adaptation premiered on January 10. Aniplex of America streamed the anime on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Funimation, and HIDIVE as it aired. Toonami began airing the anime on April 13. A second season of the anime will premiere in 2020.

Sources: The Promised Neverland live-action film's website, Comic Natalie