We’ve seen characters wake up from comas and stumble around asking random pedestrians what year it is. We’ve even seen a character wake up from a coma to no pedestrians at all because 99% of them were turned into rage-fueled zombies. Somehow, this writer would argue, Ryland Grace’s (Ryan Gosling) situation is even worse.
In the first trailer for Project Hail Mary, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s adaptation of The Martianauthor Andy Weir’s novel of the same name, Ryland wakes up from his coma in space, several light-years from his apartment back on Earth. Still not convinced that’s worse than the zombie apocalypse? He’s not an astronaut, as he emphatically tries to explain pre-coma to a scientist played by Sandra Hüller; he’s a 6th grade teacher. Oh, and everything on Earth will be destroyed if he doesn’t complete his mission. It’s not a great situation, by any means.
There’s a lothappening in this trailer. Hüller’s character’s team reveals that almost every star in the solar system has been infected by some sort of mysterious substance… except one. Why? No one knows. Well, someone might. It’s the (seemingly) friendly alien Ryland meets on his solo mission. He’s living an absolute nightmare, but at least he’s not alone. Maybe it isn’t as bad as the zombie apocalypse after all.
Project Hail Mary also stars Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, and Milana Vayntrub. The film wakes up in theaters March 20, 2026.