Ben Platt has said he hopes a Dear Evan Hansen movie will come together “sometime soon”.
The Pitch Perfect actor, who originated the title role of the hit musical on Broadway, said he is optimistic the movie version will happen in the near future.
Platt, 26, can currently be seen in the new high school-set Netflix series The Politician.
He told the PA news agency: “I have been playing pretty much only high schoolers.
“I was a high school student in Evan Hansen for a long, long time. But luckily in this case the first season (of The Politician) will be the only time, we’ll just say, that you’ll see us in high school because we’re going to move beyond that when we get to season two.
“So I’ll finally get to play a little closer to my age. I would say the only time that I could possibly return to high school would be if we were to make a film of Evan Hansen, which hopefully will come together sometime soon.
“But that would be the farewell to that time in life I think, and I hope people would forgive me for returning to it one last time for that particular character.”
Asked how likely it is that the film will happen, he said: “You never know with a movie that’s a studio film – there’s so many things that have to fall into place, but I think everyone really believes in it, as an adaptation, and that it could really be something powerful.
“They’re trying to get it done in the near future where we could all forgive me for my age, and we’ll see.”
The musical, about a boy in high school with social anxiety who fakes a series of letters and messages from a dead member of his class to gain popularity, will open in London’s West End later this year.
Platt also spoke of his delight at working with friend and Booksmart star Beanie Feldstein on Richard Linklater’s adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along.
Linklater, who directed Boyhood over a period of 12 years, plans to film the musical over two decades.
Platt said: “It’s very surreal. When he pitched the idea to me and also led with the fact that he wanted Beanie and I in it together, playing roles that we’d dreamt of playing always, it seemed like a joke.
“I called Beanie after… he let me be the one to call Beanie and tell her about it and she really thought I was joking.
“She got mad at me like, ‘Please don’t joke, this isn’t funny’. She was walking through the snow and she had to sit down on the street in the snow and collect herself.
“It’s a dream come true to have a reason to continue to return to my best friend in a show that’s meant so much to us in our childhoods, over the next 18 years.”