Everything We Know About ‘Project Hail Mary’: The Next Film from the Author of ‘The Martian’
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Readtime: 4 min
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A decade ago, Andy Weir’s novel The Martian was turned into a critical and commercial smash hit — grossing over US$630 million ($AUD942 million) worldwide off a US$110 million budget. The movie successfully blended hard science fiction with the smaller, more personal stakes of an astronaut trapped alone on Mars, and has gone on to become one of the more impactful sci-fi films in recent memory.
Now it’s Project Hail Mary’s turn in the spotlight. An adaptation of Weir’s 2021 novel of the same name, the film follows biologist-turned-teacher-turned-astronaut Ryland Grace (played here by Ryan Gosling) as he searches for a way to stop our sun from blinking out. Something from outside our solar system has been infecting and sapping stars of their heat and light, and our solar system is next.
That’d obviously be pretty bad, and Grace is sent on one final, hail-mary mission to solve the problem before humanity and everything we’ve ever created is lost. Of course, there are a few complications along the way, the biggest of which being that Grace can’t seem to remember anything. Uh oh.
The film comes out soon, so if you’re looking to go in blind you don’t have to wait too long. If you want to know a bit more, we’ve collected everything you need to know about Project Hail Mary here, so read on!
What’s ‘Project Hail Mary’ About?
I’m not all that interested in spoiling the majority of the book or movie for you, but I’ll say this: Project Hail Mary is about Grace’s research into an extraterrestrial starkiller that has set its sights on our own Sun, as well as the last-ditch plan to stop that from happening. Obviously, failure means the heat death of the solar system, so our hero has a fair bit weighing on his shoulders (once he remembers, that is).
What’s interesting about the way Weir writes his galaxy-ending threat, though, is that it isn’t a Thanos-style evil alien being set on destruction, but an understandable natural process that can be thwarted with a bit of scientific know-how. That puts someone like Grace, who spent years as a molecular biologist before turning to teaching, into the role of hero — you can’t solve this issue with machismo and violence.
It’s this refreshing focus on ingenuity and intelligence that makes Weir’s work so enjoyable, and which has us excited to jump into Project Hail Mary this year.
Confirmed Cast for ‘Project Hail Mary’
While much of the film is led by Gosling as Ryland Grace aboard the Hail Mary, we will meet a few other characters throughout by way of flashbacks, recordings, and other interactions. Here’s the full cast list:
- Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace
- Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina
- Ken Leung
- Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt
- Liz Kingsman as Shapiro
- Lional Boyce
- Aaron Niel as Narender
- James Wright as ‘CIA Agent’
- Orion Lee as Xi
- Isla McRae
- Robert James Smith as ‘Scientist’
- Bastian Antonio Fuentes
- Travis Jay as ‘Jet Fighter Pilot’
When Can I Watch It?
‘Project Hail Mary’ hits cinemas pretty soon, thankfully, so you won’t have to wait long. The sci-fi adaptation launches on March 19, 2026.
In the meantime, if you want more of Weir’s writing, you could check out his book Artemis, which hasn’t been turned into a film quite yet (though it is in the works), or relive The Martian.
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