Project Hail Mary Trailer Shows a Lone Astronaut’s Impossible Mission

In 2015, people saw The Martian, the tense, funny, and rather sweetly nostalgic adaptation of Andy Weir’s international bestseller of the same name. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, the film adapted the first few chapters of Weir’s debut novel (spoiler: astronaut Mark Watney isn’t left behind on Mars) to win critical acclaim, box office success, and even some awards. So when it was announced that Weir had a new book, 2021’s Project Hail Mary, and that it, too, would be adapted into a film, sci-fi fans had reason to be excited.

And now, after some development and casting announcements, Amazon MGM Studios has dropped the first trailer for the film adaptation of Project Hail Mary. Like The Martian, the trailer promises a mix of fascinating science, dark-humor-infused survival, and compelling storytelling to send it soaring. From the opening scene to the final shot, Project Hail Mary, based on Weir’s 2021 bestseller of the same name, looks like a high-concept, high-budget sci-fi epic that explores familiar—and often very funny—themes with its leading man, Ryan Gosling.

Amazon MGM became involved with the film’s development well in advance, acquiring the rights to the book before Weir finished writing the novel. Drew Goddard also signed on to adapt the novel before it was even available for purchase or sale. Fans of The Martian will remember Goddard’s work on that adaptation. It was nominated for an Oscar, and it’s not difficult to see why. Goddard’s sharp screenplay followed the book faithfully while also developing some new elements for the screen that worked with its themes. For example, both the Martian and Project Hail Mary films adapted the novel’s post-story text, footnotes, and other extra information into separate video “call home” logs that audiences loved. Bringing Goddard back to take the helm for Project Hail Mary seems a natural fit.

It might also seem natural to pair Gosling up with Goddard on a sci-fi blockbuster following 2014’s fantastic The Orange Suicide Squad. However, the team of filmmakers in the director’s chair might seem a bit unusual for this new adaptation of Weir’s hard sci-fi. Lord and Miller have a history of comedy and animation (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The LEGO Movie), but not so much of the grit and science of sci-fi. On the one hand, they’re not the first choice for Project Hail Mary. On the other hand, their ability to combine humor and heart in big films could be exactly what this adaptation needs.

Project Hail Mary: The Trailer and Synopsis

Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, the film’s central protagonist. The trailer introduces Grace as a rather ordinary middle school science teacher who wakes up in a spaceship with no memory of what happened to him before he arrived. It doesn’t take long for Grace to figure out where he is—or, more importantly, where he isn’t. He’s in space, but he’s a very long way from home. In fact, at his first estimation, he’s at least ten light-years from Earth, meaning his house and his students are galaxies away. But the footage flashes back to a few weeks earlier, when Grace was back on Earth, shaved and smartly dressed for teaching class. He goes to the door at the end of his lesson, though, to find Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) and her team of representatives at the door.

Grace is a former molecular biologist who has the skills and talent to participate in a top-secret mission, but it will take some convincing. “I put the ‘not’ in astronaut,” he deadpans at one point. “I can’t even moonwalk!” Eva and her team, however, have a proposition for him that Grace simply can’t refuse. The Sun, it turns out, is dying. Not just our star, but every star in a wide region of space. Except one. But no one knows why, and no one knows what to do about it. The race to solve this puzzle is on, and with the right person, anyone is a candidate for solving the puzzle. Grace might be that person.

The choice seems to be presented as simple: either say yes and join the fight or say no and face extinction. At least, that’s how Eva puts it. “If you don’t go, you die with the rest of us. If we do nothing, everything on this planet will go extinct,” she states at one point, more than a little bluntly. Grace weighs the options: on the one hand, he could die, or on the other hand, he could let everyone he loves die—including his students. It’s a choice no one should ever have to make, but if it means protecting his students, Grace will sign up.

Grace will more than sign up: in exchange for his willingness to help, he is given space travel training at an accelerated pace, learning at light speed. However, by the time Grace is launched into the great, great void, one issue becomes apparent—he is alone. Grace awakens on the ship and quickly discovers that he is no longer part of a team. He, and he alone, must complete this mission to save the planet. It doesn’t help that Grace is suffering from a kind of temporary amnesia that the recruiters were unable to cure. The identity of the rest of the crew is confirmed by one casting note: the late Olesya Ilyukhina, played by Milana Vayntrub.