Project Hail Mary | Ryan Gosling (March 20, 2026)

[FPAlpha]

Watched it for a second time now it's out on streaming, and even as a book reader, there was so much more detail I picked up the second time around. What a great optimistic movie.

The ending nearly broke me both viewings, and in the book. Poor Rocky in his broken ship probably thinking he'd failed Erid. Only for Grace to decide this time, he would risk his life to save the Eridians, reversing the same decision he'd faced before being forced on the Hail Mary mission, because this time, there was someone he cared about.

I remember, it's spelled out in the book that Grace was very aware he didn't have enough food to take Rocky back to Erid and then return to Earth. It was a one way trip for him.

Such a hugely satisfying arc.

Can you imagine coming to an alien race as an alien yourself and actually saving them all from extinction? It's no wonder the Eridians lost their mind at the end when attending his class, there was probably a worldwide lottery going on who got to have the honor of attending his class.

I mean it's one thing to have the option again to return home to live within your own species but the Eridians worship him and he found his best friend there so it's a tough choice. I wonder what Weir will let happen if he writes Haily Mary 2 to make Grace leave Erid ( and likely with Rocky in tow).

I'll be honest, after Grace was knocked unconscious and Rocky burst his containment to help him, I definitely felt something. I knew how it would turn out from reading the book, but goddamn that scene still hit me.

I actually leapt up from my seat and cried out "No!" when i thought Rocky was going to die. If a movie can make me care so much for a character, a character that is a puppet/CGI creation, then it's definitely good.

Working right now to get a friend of mine to see it. She doesn't usually like science fiction movies and especially ones that she feels are like school with all the science explanations but she loves character bonding movies and i just know that if she makes it through the first act and sees Rocky and Grace become best friends she will love the movie.

 

[Verteron]

I mean it's one thing to have the option again to return home to live within your own species but the Eridians worship him and he found his best friend there so it's a tough choice. I wonder what Weir will let happen if he writes Haily Mary 2 to make Grace leave Erid ( and likely with Rocky in tow).

Weir doesn't seem that keen on sequels but I like to imagine that their example of Human and Eridian friendship would develop into something beautiful. Both Grace and Rocky both took huge personal risks and worked together selflessly to save both civilisations. Both missions would have failed and both species would have died out were it not for their successful cooperation.

I can't imagine a better starting point for a permanent alliance.

Controlling the Astrophage as a fuel source, combined with Human knowledge of physics and computers plus Eridian material sciences and mechanical genius could usher in a new joint space age.

 

[theenglish]

Can you imagine coming to an alien race as an alien yourself and actually saving them all from extinction? It's no wonder the Eridians lost their mind at the end when attending his class, there was probably a worldwide lottery going on who got to have the honor of attending his class.

It's got to be an elite class. I haven't quite finished the book yet but Grace could be a university professor as the book clearly established that Earth has a better scientific knowledge of many areas than Erid does. (I'm still a few chapters short of finishing the book.)

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Weir has indicated an openness to writing a sequel to Project Hail Mary if he comes up with a good enough idea. Don't quote me on this, but I think he suggested that such a sequel would be set much later on and wouldn't necessarily involve Grace.

 

[Turtletrekker]

^ I'm sure I would love whatever he comes up with, but a lot of the appeal of this movie (and I'm sure probably the book) was the quirky chemistry between Grace and Rocky.

 

[Owain Taggart]

James Ortiz, who was the lead puppeteer for Rocky, read lines on set for Gosling to work of off. The initial intention was to find someone 'big' to ADR over Rocky's lines in post production. However the Directors (Lord & Miller) liked Ortiz's delivery so much they decided to keep him as the voice actor.

I definitely agree with the decision - he smashed it.

Ortiz definitely seems to be revelling in the well-earned success, he's one of the top puppeteers in Hollywood but has never done a voice acting part before apparently. Seems like a cool dude.

You gotta love when everything comes together! I feel like this is one of those movies where everyone worked so hard to get everything just right. I'm sure they're all very proud to see it become such a success.

Weir has indicated an openness to writing a sequel to Project Hail Mary if he comes up with a good enough idea. Don't quote me on this, but I think he suggested that such a sequel would be set much later on and wouldn't necessarily involve Grace.

That's what I heard too. I think it was through one of the interviews posted in this thread. I'd be Ok with a sequel, but part of me would worry as there's so much going for this movie NOT being part of a franchise. I'd almost rather see Andy Weir focus on writing something brand new.

 

[theenglish]

That's what I heard too. I think it was through one of the interviews posted in this thread. I'd be Ok with a sequel, but part of me would worry as there's so much going for this movie NOT being part of a franchise. I'd almost rather see Andy Weir focus on writing something brand new.

On the NY Times Book Review, he said something like that too. He's not writing a sequel at the moment. He's writing something else. But he said that he'd like to return to the world of PHM because he's interested in pursuing a story about the panspermia event.

 

[Verteron]

That would be very cool, but we shouldn't be under any illusions that Andy Weir is gonna start writing novels about multi-species federations exploring space together. Not his style.

 

[theenglish]

That would be very cool, but we shouldn't be under any illusions that Andy Weir is gonna start writing novels about multi-species federations exploring space together. Not his style.

I think if he were to return to this universe, it would be for something similar to the style of books he writes.

 

[Turtletrekker]

That would be very cool, but we shouldn't be under any illusions that Andy Weir is gonna start writing novels about multi-species federations exploring space together. Not his style.

Did someone suggest as much?

 

[FPAlpha]

That would be very cool, but we shouldn't be under any illusions that Andy Weir is gonna start writing novels about multi-species federations exploring space together. Not his style.

On the flipside it would be great to see his take on a Star Trek style franchise with his attention to detail, sense of humor, keeping close to cutting edge physics and only handwaving away things to keep the story going.

Damn, i really need to get his books because for now the movies they produced are 2 out of 2 and have instantly become favorite movies of mine. I hear Artemis is a bit of a departure in style and some regard it as not as good as the others but tastes and perceptions tend to vary so who knows. Might want to start and finish the 3 Body books first that i bought ages ago because i was so impressed with the first Netflix season of them.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, he's the kind of writer I'd like to see write a few episodes of Trek as a guest writer perhaps.

And yeah Artemis was not nearly as well received as either The Martian or Project Hail Mary. I mean, it's fine, but It's not nearly as fun as either of those. The main character is rather abrasive.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I remain one of the few people who genuinely loved Artemis and its lead character but I get why people didn't like book or her as much.

 

[theenglish]

Yeah, he's the kind of writer I'd like to see write a few episodes of Trek as a guest writer perhaps.

And yeah Artemis was not nearly as well received as either The Martian or Project Hail Mary. I mean, it's fine, but It's not nearly as fun as either of those. The main character is rather abrasive.

Weir has discussed the lessons he learned from Artemis (although it does sound like a book I'd enjoy) and said that he should have made the main character more likeable.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Weir has discussed the lessons he learned from Artemis (although it does sound like a book I'd enjoy) and said that he should have made the main character more likeable.

Yeah, that's another thing I heard from one of the interviews posted on here. I have a feeling that if the movie does go forward, that they'll end up changing the character's personality.

 

[theenglish]

Yeah, that's another thing I heard from one of the interviews posted on here. I have a feeling that if the movie does go forward, that they'll end up changing the character's personality.

I haven't read the book, but definitely will. Weir said he realized that his characters need to be humorous (which IMO he writes well) in order to win the audience over--which, is probably how that movie will be done. The lovable rogue archetype.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, sometimes it takes making a mistake to realize someone is better at something. In this case, for Weir it's definitely the humour and likeability of his characters that work best, and it's also how he weaves his characters into the story in unique ways, something I felt that was missing in Artemis. Artemis was a bit of a departure if you look at all three stories. The story features a heist on the moon and it comes across as quite a bit darker than either The Martian and Project Hail Mary, and the tone is not a very hopeful one.

 

[Starkers]

On the flipside it would be great to see his take on a Star Trek style franchise with his attention to detail, sense of humor, keeping close to cutting edge physics and only handwaving away things to keep the story going.

Damn, i really need to get his books because for now the movies they produced are 2 out of 2 and have instantly become favorite movies of mine. I hear Artemis is a bit of a departure in style and some regard it as not as good as the others but tastes and perceptions tend to vary so who knows. Might want to start and finish the 3 Body books first that i bought ages ago because i was so impressed with the first Netflix season of them.

Given his views on what he wants from Trek maybe the odd episode but nothing more. He basically said he didn't want the show to deal with any social issues, he just wanted to see the Federation and the Romulans shooting at each other. Given his books (well the two I've led) lean heavily into co-operaion and peaceful solutions it seemed an odd take.

 

[Owain Taggart]

^ I saw that more as 'don't let the modern-day politics get in the way of telling a good story'. These days it's become so very politically muddled, which tracks with other comments he made in that neither The Martian or Project Hail Mary include politics.

 

[Tallguy]

Ok, this has been cracking me up for months now. This first trailer showed this:

So people started selling shirts that just said "I HAD POTENTIAL". (Which kind of tracks with the character from the trailer.)

They completely missed that he was wearing an off the shelf shirt that a nerdy science teacher would wear: