Citing "multiple individuals familiar with the project," TheWrap reports that Hugo and Ender's Game star Asa Butterfield will be offered the lead role in Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

The 17-year-old is said to be the director's first choice for the role of Jacob Portman, a teenager on a quest for the truth regarding the murder of his grandfather at the hands of a monster called a "hollow." In Ransom Riggs' novel, his journey eventually leads him to the titular character's institution where he meets teenagers with special powers.

Production on Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which stars Eva Green in the titular role, starts in February. The Fox film is expected in theaters on March 4, 2016.