Caron frames this as a championing of 'raw authenticity' and creative freedom, positioning his move as a serious artistic evolution beyond children's TV.
Insiders whisper that Caron is finally breaking free from the 'Kid TV' box. Adapting a Kirkus finalist suggests he wants critical respect, not just ratings from 8-year-olds.
Caron launched Mike Caron Productions in 2022. The book, 'The One We Left Behind,' was a finalist in Kirkus' inaugural Indie Awards and won first place at BookFest for its audiobook.
Mike Caron is done being just the 'Henry Danger' guy. This option proves he has serious ambition and the receipts to back it up.
The Nickelodeon machine has a new defector, and he is bringing receipts. Mike Caron, the director behind dozens of episodes of *Henry Danger*, *Danger Force*, and *Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder*, has officially optioned Sara Coven’s award-winning middle-grade novel, *The One We Left Behind*. This isn't just another Saturday morning cartoon adaptation; it is a calculated pivot into feature filmmaking that signals Caron is done letting the children’s television landscape define his ceiling.
He is plotting his own course, and he is doing it by acquiring intellectual property that has already earned critical acclaim in the indie space. To handle the heavy lifting of the adaptation, Caron has tapped Sean Lavery, a writer known for his work on comedies like *Cougar Town* and *Crossing Swords*. Lavery brings a personal stake to the table that goes beyond professional credits; his son has a disability, a fact that has previously influenced his writing.
In 2019, Lavery’s pilot *Me & You* was selected for the inaugural Black List Disability List, recognizing scripts centered on disability or featuring a disabled lead. Lavery stated, "Coming-of-age stories made me a writer, but watching my disabled son come of age gave me a whole new prism of experiences." This personal connection suggests the adaptation will have more than just commercial potential; it has emotional grounding. The source material itself is no slouch. *The One We Left Behind* is set in the 1990s and follows a group of seventh graders grappling with friendship and bullying.
The story centers on 13-year-old Evan, whose reputation as a "cool kid" is shattered when he is assigned to spend lunch with William, a new student with severe food allergies who is being ridiculed by classmates. What starts as resentment turns into an unexpected friendship, forcing Evan to confront the pressures of fitting in. Coven wrote the novel as a passion project inspired by her nephews' struggles with severe food allergies.
The book’s credentials are impressive: it was one of only six finalists nationwide in Kirkus’ inaugural Indie Awards for Children’s Literature and won first place for its audiobook at BookFest. Caron is developing the project through Mike Caron Productions, the company he launched in 2022 to develop original concepts and acquire IP. In a statement, Caron emphasized his desire to champion storytelling outside traditional pathways, noting, "There’s an incredible creative freedom in finding brilliant material outside the traditional pathways and Sara’s novel has that rare, raw authenticity." This move represents a deliberate expansion into a broader family audience.
While Caron is currently in pre-production on the feature *Invader*, starring Amy Acker and Todd Stashwick, this option proves he is serious about diversifying his portfolio beyond the bright, sitcom-style world of Disney and Nickelodeon. He is betting on indie credibility to open Hollywood doors.
