Sure, most Americans are glued to their TVs for the today’s Super Bowl and/or the Winter Olympics. But for the non-sports minded, Amazon MGM Studios has released one last trailer for its forthcoming space odyssey Project Hail Mary, based on Andy Weir’s (The Martian) bestselling 2021 novel about an amnesiac biologist-turned-schoolteacher in space.
As previously reported, Amazon MGM Studios acquired the rights for Weir’s novel before it was even published and brought on Drew Goddard to write the screenplay. (Goddard also wrote the adapted screenplay for The Martian, so he’s an excellent choice.) The studio tapped Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The LEGO Movie) to direct and signed on Ryan Gosling to star. Per the official premise:
Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.
In addition to Gosling, the cast includes Sandra Huller as head of the Hail Mary project and Ryland’s superior; Milana Vayntrub as project astronaut Olesya Ilyukhina; Ken Leung as project astronaut Yao Li-Jie; Liz Kingsman as Shapiro; Orion Lee as Xi; and James Ortiz as a new life form Ryland names Rocky.
To say there’s a lot of interest in this movie might be an understatement. The first trailer was released in June and racked up a whopping 400 million views worldwide in its first week. The footage—which included Ryland discovering an alien ship inhabited by the aforementioned Rocky—gave every indication of following Weir’s novel pretty closely. That’s very good news for Weir fans, which includes several of us here at Ars.
That earlier trailer mostly gave us a lot of backstory about how Ryland ended up reluctantly agreeing to the mission, with just a few glimpses of Rocky. But Rocky is front and center for this latest one. The footage focuses on how Ryland and Rocky learn to communicate and gradually bond over their shared fates, with strains of Prince’s “I Would Die For You” echoing in the background. It starts with Rocky imitating Ryland’s body motions, including a goofy hero pose. Eventually Ryland figures out how to synthesize and voice for Rocky so they can better coordinate their strategies. Will they succeed? Or is this a one-way trip for one or both of them?
Project Hail Mary hits theaters on March 20, 2026.
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