Orson Scott Card’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning 1985 novel “Ender’s Game” is finally hitting the silver screen next November after years in development hell. The tale about a boy groomed to become a military commander is an odd fit for Hollywood, with its analysis of human society and its dark moral complexities set and futuristic setting. Yet Card prevented the film from entering production for so long to ensure the story wouldn’t be viewed as simply another “Star Wars” ripoff. Now, Lionsgate -— likely seeing the potential for a franchise in the book’s many sequels, prequels and side tales — is
releasing the film via Summit Entertainment, a studio it acquired earlier this year.

Despite the studio being home to the “Twilight” saga, there is still much hope for a true sci-fi film rather than another brainless action flick.

The sole caveat thus far is in the choice of Gavin Hood as director. Although Hood’s breakout hit “Tsotsi” won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, his introduction to Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking was the much-decried “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Regardless of that failure, the re-writes of the script by Hood and the team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (co-writers of 2009’s “Star Trek”) are attracting some marquee talent.

For the main character of Ender, the filmmakers made the wise decision to cast Asa Butterfield, whose breakout performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” marked him as a talent to watch. Butterfield is surrounded by a strong group of child actors who play his classmates, among them Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”), Brandon Soo Hoo (“Tropic Thunder”) and Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”). Harrison Ford plays Colonel Graff, the head of Battle School, and Ben Kingsley, another “Hugo” cast member, appears in the second half of the film as Ender’s mentor — to say any more about his character would spoil one of the book’s greatest surprises.

Science fiction in film usually follows only interstellar battles, but “Ender’s Game” deconstructs this trope with its focus on the potential dehumanization of future military systems. If done right, the film could treat audiences to a new kind of space opera next year.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Dec. 6 print edition. J.R. Hammerer is a staff writer. Email him at [email protected].