- Ryan Gosling plays a middle-school science teacher tasked with a risky, world-saving quest in the trailer for Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary
- “I put the ‘not’ in ‘astronaut!’ I’ve never done anything [space-related] — I can’t even moonwalk!’ ” he says in the preview — and later meets an alien
- Project Hail Mary is in theaters and IMAX March 20, 2026
Ryan Gosling is a man on a(n unwanted) mission in Project Hail Mary.
Amazon MGM Studios released a trailer for the upcoming sci-fi flick based on Andy Weir’s 2021 novel of the same name, which follows middle-school science teacher Ryland Grace (Gosling, 44) as he is tasked with the unthinkable, 11.9 light-years from home.
Upon being told several stars, including the sun, are dying for an unknown reason, Ryland is then informed that the world needs him due to his specific knowledge.
“It’s 11.9 light-years away. The astronauts … die in space?” Ryland asks.
“It’s what you Americans would call a long shot,” says his superior, Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), to which Ryland responds, “Hail Mary. I get it.”
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Project Hail Mary.
While discussing the mission, Ryland stresses that he has no experience with space despite his doctorate in molecular biology, saying, “I put the ‘not’ in ‘astronaut!’ I’ve never done anything [space-related] — I can’t even moonwalk!’ “
“If we do nothing, everything on this planet will go extinct,” Eva tells him. “You are my solution.”
“I understand the stakes — I do. But my place is in the classroom,” Ryland also says — but Eva counters, “The world is counting on you.”
After waking up from a coma inside the spaceship and seemingly not remembering how he got there or why, Ryland eventually comes to terms with his mission — and surroundings.
Project Hail Mary.
In fact, things starts to get weird (and hilarious) later in the trailer when he comes face-to-face with what appears to be an extraterrestrial being.
“So, I met an alien,” Ryland says. “He’s kinda growing on me. At least he’s not growing in me, which was a concern for a little while.”
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Oscar-winning filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) directed Project Hail Mary, from a script by Drew Goddard (The Martian).
Project Hail Mary is in theaters and IMAX March 20, 2026.
