Anyone with a love for reading knows that there are some books that cement themselves firmly onto our book-loving souls, the characters existing in full color in our imaginations, the stories inspiring genuine emotions, creating lasting memories for all the ups and downs, and twists and turns they took us on. Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary is one of those books for me. As a fan of The Martian (the book and the film adaptation), I devoured Project Hail Mary when it was released, and have re-listened to the audiobook since then. I'm beyond excited about and hopeful for the film adaptation of the 2021 sci-fi thriller.
Honestly, Project Hail Mary is the movie I’m most anticipating amidst some huge films listed on the 2026 movie schedule, not to mention one of the most anticipated book-to-screen adaptations on my mental I-Cant-Fracking-Wait list. So to say that I’m thrilled to know that a trailer is finally here would be an under. statement. Just what to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have in store for us with this adaptation? Watch the full Project Hail Mary trailer above.
If you haven’t read the book, the basic premise of the story is that the world is in big trouble, and main character, Ryland Grace, finds himself awakening on a spaceship on a mission for one last attempt to save the planet. How he got there and what he has to do is all part of what unfolds in the story. Now that we've seen the trailer, I'm going to talk in a bit more detail about the book and what we've been shown. That includes vague spoilers, but only in response to the footage.
Below is the poster released by Amazon MGM Studios on Friday, and then we'll get into what the trailer shows us!
What the Project Hail Mary trailer reveals
The trailer reveals Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, who is very much not an astronaut. This is relevant because he's being tasked to go on a last-chance "Hail Mary" mission to save the planet.
Seeing Gosling insist on his lack of qualifications for space exploration to Sandra Hüller's politely serious character is exactly the kind of humor I loved in the book and anticipated from Gosling in this performance. But the trailer doesn't stop there, as we also get glimpses a world in danger of extinction due to a dying sun, the plan to try to fix what's happening, and of Ryland Grace, a non-astronaut school teacher, looking very bearded and disoriented as he wakes up on the space ship.
And in the final minute of the nearly-3-minute preview, we see him meet a fellow space explorer, who he decides to call Rocky. Yup, the cat's out of the bag there, folks, which isn't super surprising. But the trailer leaves plenty unseen as it relates to Ryland's new friend, which I'm grateful for. We get a peek at Rocky's hands as Ryland attempts to show him how to do a thumb's up, but the rest is left to our imagination (and I kind of hope it stays there until March 2026, but we'll see).
While this is the first time most of us see any significant footage from the Project Hail Mary movie adaptation, it won’t be the first time anyone’s seen footage. CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb and Eric Eisenberg were fortunate enough to be in the room at CinemaCon when Amazon did their presentation for their upcoming slate. Eric’s a fan of the book, and you can tell by his glowing response — “my excitement has reached extreme levels” is literally one of the things he said after seeing the footage — that he’s optimistic about the movie, to say the least. I'm not sure if the trailer above is the same footage shown at CinemaCon, but either way, I can appreciate Eric's enthusiasm firsthand now!
Is It March 2026 yet?
As a fan of the book, I was already planning to see Project Hail Mary. And with an impressively high 4.5 rating on GoodReads (especially considering there are more than 800,000 ratings logged for the book), I’m willing to bet there are a lot of other book fans who will be lining up for it. But I'm beyond excited now that we've gotten a look at the movie.
Project Hail Mary hits theaters on March 20, 2026.
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