According to Popverse, Something is Killing the Children writer James Tynion IV has publicly revealed his personal fancast for a live-action adaptation of his hit BOOM! Studios comic — and he wants Maya Hawke to bring monster hunter Erica Slaughter to life on screen.
Why This Is a Big Deal for Fancasting
When the creator of a property throws their weight behind a specific actor, it does something interesting to the fancasting conversation — it validates the entire exercise while also throwing down a gauntlet. Tynion IV knows Erica Slaughter better than anyone. He built her from the ground up: the stoic exterior, the trauma buried underneath, the almost mythological competence in the face of incomprehensible horror. If he sees Maya Hawke in that role, that's worth taking seriously.
For fans of the comic, a live-action adaptation has felt like a matter of when, not if — the book has been a critical darling since its debut, and its cinematic tone practically begs for a screen translation. That means the casting conversation is very much alive, and Tynion's endorsement of Hawke just turned up the heat considerably. For fans of the comic, a live-action adaptation has felt like a matter of when, not if — the book has been a critical darling since its debut, and its cinematic tone practically begs for a screen translation. That means the casting conversation is very much alive, and Tynion's endorsement of Hawke just turned up the heat considerably.
What myCast Fans Are Actually Voting For
Here's where things get genuinely interesting. Across three separate fan-cast stories for the property on myCast, the community has been building out their dream adaptations — and the results offer a fascinating counterpoint to Tynion's pick.
In the most active story, Something is Killing the Children, which has accumulated 32 votes across 20 roles, the top choice for Erica Slaughter is Esmé Creed-Miles with 8 votes. If you know Creed-Miles from Hanna, you can immediately see the logic: she has that same coiled intensity, that quality of someone who has been through things most people can't imagine and come out the other side harder for it. It's a genuinely compelling pick.
In a second story, Something Is Killing The Children, dominates the Erica Slaughter vote with 5 out of 6 total votes cast — a near-unanimous community verdict. Thatcher's work in The Book of Boba Fett and The Boogeyman has shown she can anchor genre material with quiet, grounded intensity, and fans are clearly paying attention. A third story, , features a more spread-out field with picks including and each earning votes.