Project Hail Mary Sets Theatrical Release for March 2026

The Martian was, by all measures, a love letter to a kind of movie that Hollywood used to make: the big, complicated, fun science-fiction movie of ideas. When it was released in 2015, the film adaptation of Andy Weir’s popular first novel was a hit with audiences and critics. In addition to being funnier and more human than most similar films, it also brought in heaps of revenue and took home a few Oscars.

So it’s no surprise that when Amazon MGM Studios confirmed in early 2022 that they were adapting Weir’s 2021 novel Project Hail Mary, sci-fi fans rejoiced. While we’ve still got a while to wait for the actual film (it’s due for release on March 20, 2026), fans have received a first trailer, which will likely please them.

Ryan Gosling Leads a Big, Bright, Fun Space Adventure in Project Hail Mary Trailer

Project Hail Mary boasts several top-tier talents: in addition to Gosling in the lead, writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The LEGO Movie) have signed on to direct, and Drew Goddard (Altered Carbon, Love, Time, and Space) penned the screenplay. Amazon MGM Studios scooped up the rights for the Weir adaptation well before the novel’s publication, and Goddard was retained to write the script; he had previously been nominated for an Academy Award for his adaptation of The Martian.

Lord and Miller’s roles as directors may surprise some fans of hard sci-fi, but they have a history of subverting genre expectations in comedies with a genuine heart.

A “Solo Flight” to the Center of the Story

Like the Martian, the film’s subject, Project Hail Mary, involves a lone astronaut marooned in space and forced to use his scientific knowledge and wits to survive. Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a mild-mannered middle school science teacher, who wakes up in a spaceship without any memory of how he got there. The film doesn’t give Grace much time to ponder his situation. As the trailer opens, the man quickly realizes that he’s several light-years from Earth, a long way from his apartment back home.

Flashbacks help piece together how he got to that place, showing a trim, clean-shaven man living on Earth, enjoying a quiet day teaching his class before being offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to find out what’s causing multiple nearby stars to grow dimmer and save Earth in the process.

The Plot Summary

The problem is that the Sun is dying, along with multiple other neighboring stars. Scientists suspect that some mysterious interstellar phenomenon is behind it all, and that they’ll need an expert like Grace, a former molecular biologist, to unlock the secret.

Grace is not thrilled with his new role, though, and he does not attempt to hide that. “I put the ‘not’ in astronaut,” he sasses at one point in the trailer, confessing his lack of training as a space traveler with a joke: “I can’t even moonwalk!” A stern woman with an edge to her voice, played by Sandra Hüller, tells Grace the brutal truth: “If you don’t go, you die with the rest of us. If we do nothing, everything on this planet will go extinct.” Grace, who will miss his class of students terribly if he accepts the mission, realizes that the choice is not an easy one, and says “Deal” to seal the bargain.

Grace eventually completes the required training and is sent off on his long journey into space. But by the time he wakes up on the ship, he is in a state of temporary amnesia that has erased all traces of memory of how he ended up alone in space. According to casting notes on the trailer, Grace’s crew has died long ago, with a Russian co-pilot named Olesya Ilyukhina (Milana Vayntrub) perishing in the journey.

Grace’s Space Odyssey

Grace doesn’t remain alone for long, though. After coming into contact with another spaceship, he meets with a brand-new form of life. This new alien species is completely different from anything that has ever been encountered by humanity, but the film’s hero, in a short recorded video message, reassures the audience that he’s not a hostile creature bent on Earth’s annihilation. “He’s kinda growing on me,” he deadpans in the film’s trailer. “At least he’s not growing in me, you know?”

Grace’s interstellar misadventures take him to strange places and put him in real danger, but the film doesn’t shy away from heartwarming moments of connection. Grace himself is an approachable everyman. He teaches Rocky how to do a thumbs-up, and Rocky comes to the rescue.

A Light-Hearted Space Adventure Film

Project Hail Mary, by all evidence, will echo the tension of life-or-death space travel with the same warmth and humor found in The Martian. It would be easy for the picture to become mired in scientific jargon, but Gosling, Lord, and Miller’s characters are exceedingly human, making them relatable to all audiences. The Martian’s balance of spectacle and empathy, humor and intrigue, may also be seen in this film, a new favorite from a renowned film studio.

In the meantime, fans have until March 2026 to either read the book or avoid learning the whole story before the movie’s release. With a combination of exotic science, drama, and classic friendship, Project Hail Mary has the potential to be one of the decade’s most looked forward to science fiction films. If the trailer is any indication, it’ll be a mission worth keeping an eye on.