‘Riverdale’ Star Charles Melton Joins Yara Shahidi in ‘The Sun Is Also a Star’ (Exclusive)

Riverdale breakout Charles Melton has been tapped to star opposite Yara Shahidi in the YA adaptation The Sun Is Also a Star.

Based on the New York Times best-seller from Nicola Yoon, the film centers on Natasha (Shahidi), a girl in New York City whose pragmatism is challenged when she falls in love right before her family is set to be deported back to Jamaica.

Melton, who is Korean-American, will play Daniel Bae, the teenage son of Korean immigrants who meets Natasha by fate.

MGM and Warner Bros. are behind the feature, having picked up the rights to Yoon’s book after partnering for an adaptation of the author’s debut, Everything, Everything. Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip) adapted the book for the screen, with Ry Russo-Young set to direct.

Alloy Entertainment’s Les Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton will produce. Tracy Oliver will executive produce. Cassidy Lange is overseeing the project for MGM, and Niija Kuykendall is overseeing for Warner Bros.

The Sun Is Also a Star is the highest-profile project to date for Melton, who is best known for playing fan favorite Reggie Mantle on the popular CW series Riverdale. His other credits include Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story. Melton is repped by Untitled and Gang Tyre.

The Sun Is Also a Star is set to hit theaters May 17, 2019.

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