Ryan Gosling Partners with an Alien in Project Hail Mary Film

It was three years ago that audiences fell in love with The Martian. An equal parts harrowing, comedic, and unexpectedly moving adaptation of Andy Weir’s blockbuster debut novel of the same name, Ridley Scott’s film won praise from critics, fared well with audiences, and even picked up a few trophies along the way. So, news that Weir’s next book, 2021’s Project Hail Mary, was in the works for a film adaptation was cause for excitement among fans of the author’s character-driven, scientifically rigorous science fiction.

Amazon MGM Studios has now shared the first official trailer for the film, which once again pairs Weir’s award-winning source material with a high-profile director (this time helmed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller), a strong leading man in Ryan Gosling, and Drew Goddard in the screenplay seat. Fans of The Martian will recognize the latter three as the winning team behind that film: Goddard adapted Weir’s novel into a screenplay that was faithful to the source material (earning the writer an Oscar nomination in the process), while Gosling and directors Lord and Miller’s partnership on the film was their first after a series of acclaimed collaborations on films like The LEGO Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Amazon MGM Studios’ interest in Project Hail Mary began early, with the studio optioning the rights to the book before Weir even finished the manuscript. In the same deal, Goddard was attached to write the screenplay. A natural fit after his Oscar-nominated screenplay for The Martian, Goddard’s return was quickly announced, with Amazon and MGM further setting the project up for success by pairing Weir’s text with directors who know how to spin a good yarn (even if their résumés aren’t full of hard science).

Gosling plays Project Hail Mary’s protagonist, Ryland Grace, a mild-mannered middle school science teacher who awakens from a coma on board a spaceship hurtling through space. Struggling with amnesia, he quickly comes to the horrifying realization that he’s many light years from Earth—and no longer in his New York apartment. Flashbacks to a clean-shaven, pre-space Grace show a promising career as a middle school science teacher in a bustling American city, cut short when a mysterious stranger approaches him to undertake a mission vital to Earth’s survival.

The problem? A space-wide crisis, one which Grace and scientists around the world don’t fully understand. A sudden dimming of the sun has created a crisis on Earth, but scientists have discovered that the pattern is replicated around the universe, with all of the stars near our own in deep space growing fainter (except for one). An unknown space-based organism is suspected, and Grace, a former molecular biologist, is contacted to help find a solution.

Grace isn’t as enthusiastic about the proposition as the mysterious recruiter is, however. “I put the ‘not’ in astronaut,” he deadpans at one point in the trailer. “I can’t even moonwalk!” His wit and sarcasm are no match for Eva Stratt, a high-ranking official in whatever organization has put the call out for Grace. Played by Sandra Hüller, Stratt makes the offer simple: “If you don’t go, you die with the rest of us. If we do nothing, everything on this planet will go extinct.” An offer Grace can’t refuse, especially when he learns that all of his students are in danger—and the entire planet with them.

Grace quickly enters space training and is soon sent on a mission he hopes will only last a few months at most. However, by the time he awakens from his space slumber and finds himself on board a spaceship alone—courtesy of temporary amnesia and the death of his crewmates somewhere between Earth and his current position—he realizes he’s in for the long haul.

The only other lifeform on board is a new and unique species he’s never seen on Earth, and he doesn’t exactly receive a warm welcome from them, either. “If I’m going to die, I want to go out in space, not stuck in an alien turd,” Grace tells whoever he imagines is listening on the ship’s intercom. Eventually, a new, alien ship appears on his scanners, and to his surprise, Grace discovers a new form of life completely unlike anything humans on Earth have ever seen before. An encounter with Rocky (who, yes, is named Rocky by Grace, and yes, is voiced by the actor from the trailers), an alien unlike any the planet has ever known, reveals the space traveler to be a potential ally.

“He’s kinda growing on me,” Grace jokes in a recording in which he shares an alien life form with an unknown audience. “At least he’s not growing in me, you know?” Rocky, too, learns from Grace, the teacher, as the human teaches the space creature how to do a thumbs-up. Project Hail Mary promises to be an epic space adventure with characters capable of cracking a smile in the face of danger.

A trailer is only the first step in any film project, of course, but if Weir’s book is any indication of the film’s likely quality, viewers can count on a story with plenty of humor, heart, and hard science to take us into space. Fans have some time before the film releases on March 20, 2026, to either go light on the spoilers or to read up on the novel to get a jump on things. With the mystery of the book, its thrilling stakes, and an alien buddy in need of a new friend, Project Hail Mary could very well be one of the most popular science fiction films in the next few years.