David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw in talks to star in J.J. Abrams’ God Particle

By Danette Chavez | March 29, 2016 | 9:32pm

Aux Features Film

In addition to expanding his intermittent Cloverfield franchise into a full-fledged “universe,” J.J. Abrams is lending a lens-flare hand to produce Julius Onah’s upcoming sci-fi thriller, God Particle. Onah, who directed The Girl Is In Trouble, assumed the helming responsibilities about two years ago, after the long-in-production film underwent a rewrite by Star Trek Beyond scribe Doug Jung. The central premise remains the same, though—a team of astronauts will still “make a terrifying discovery that challenges all they know about the fabric of reality.”

Now the film is showing new signs of life, as Variety reports that David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are in talks to lead this space-traveling team. There’s no word on who Oyelowo and Mbatha-Raw are playing specifically in the film, but they will find themselves “desperately fight[ing] for their survival,” so hopefully they’ll learn that exosuits are standard issue at NASA. The film is scheduled to premiere less than a year from now, so whatever the frightening being—or concept—is, production will probably need to go into maximum warp to complete it.