‘Project Hail Mary’ Takes Off At San Diego Comic-Con With First Look Behind The Scenes Shared By Cast And Crew

Warning: this article contains minor spoilers for the first third of Project Hail Mary, both the novel by Andy Weir and the upcoming movie directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

The creators of Project Hail Mary landed down at SDCC Saturday afternoon to offer fans a sneak peek at the upcoming movie, which premieres in March of 2026. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, along with screenwriter Drew Goddard, author Andy Weir, who wrote the original novel, and star Ryan Gosling, rallied a packed room of congoers with some unfinished clips of scientist Ryland Grace’s (Gosling) race against time and space to save humanity.

“I was sent the manuscript from the greatest sci-fi mind of our time, and he’s sitting next to me,” Gosling said, gesturing at Weir. “I knew it would be brilliant because it’s Andy, but nothing could prepare me for this time.”

For those unfamiliar, Project Hail Mary follows an amnesiac space traveler who discovers they were flung into the outer reaches of the cosmos to reverse the effects of an impact on Earth that is hurling the plant back to the ice ages. “The thing that I’ve always connected to with Andy’s work is the soul,” said screenwriter Drew Goddard. “And to me this movie is about the power of science, the power of teaching, the power of learning.”

SDCC audiences received an exclusive look at the first five minutes of Hail Mary, which sees a disoriented molecular scientist Ryland Grace awaken on a spaceship adrift in the Milky Way. They also were among the first to receive a look at the design of “Rocky”, a non-human entity that becomes a reluctant ally to Grace in his goal of destroying the Petrova Line dimming the Earth’s sun. Hail Mary is the second of Weir’s novels to be adapted for the cinema after 2015’s The Martian, also screenwritten by Goddard.

Directors Lord and Miller assured audiences that despite the sneak peek, there was plenty more to see. “Everything we’ve shown today is from the first third of the movie,” Miller said. Lord spoke about the technical elements of production, stating that “with all respect, this movie is not a Mac. It’s a PC.”

While Hail Mary will undoubtedly deal with high-level sci-fi concepts, Gosling also hopes it captures the optimism of Weir’s writing. “He’s somebody in his earth who had given up on himself,” said Gosling about his character, Grace. ” And it’s inspiring to go on this journey with him because he somehow finds the courage to put one foot after the other and keep going.”

Project Hail Mary will premiere on March 20th of next year in theaters.