Project Hail Mary's Author Lives In Fear Of Getting Called Out By Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Project Hail Mary, one of the early hits of the 2026 movie schedule, has been praised for the way both handle the science in the story. It’s not the first time Andy Weir, the author of the book on which it is based, has been lauded for this, and it turns out, he puts a lot of pressure on himself to get the science correct. To motivate himself, he just needs to think about how Neil deGrasse Tyson would react to the story. Weir opened up on Tyson’s podcast, StarTalk, recently, and explained how much pressure Tyson inadvertently puts on him. Here’s what Weir had to say.

No ‘Hand-Wavey’ Physics

In Project Hail Mary (and his previous book-to-screen adaptation, The Martian), Weir takes a lot of time to make sure the science in his fiction is plausible, in addition to being accessible to laymen. He doesn’t, as he says, want any “hand-wavey” physics just to move the plot along. Of course, as I’m sure other sci-fi writers can relate, he keeps himself in line by making sure that if astrophysicist Tyson were to read his works, he would approve. On the podcast, Tyson told Weir that he really appreciated the level of real science Weir uses. To that, Weir admitted:

It may come across as a joke, or a playful comment about Tyson’s notorious Tweets when movies and TV shows get something wrong about the science, but Weir was not joking. Tyson then reminded Weir of a quote from the author from some years back (which may have also been from an earlier episode, but it’s not cited by Tyson). Tyson read Weir's words:

Weir emphasized again that he really does picture Tyson standing over his shoulder as he types his story, putting pressure on himself to get it all correct.

It’s A System That Seems To Be Working

Tyson is known for cutting down that kind of “hand-wavy” physics in movies, so earning praise from the famed scientist is no small feat. In fact, Tyson, on the show, again complimented Weir and said:

There is probably no greater compliment a sci-fi writer could receive in today’s day and age than one like this from Tyson. He is, of course, hardly the only scientist who weighs in on science in films, but let’s be honest, he is probably the most well-known astrophysicist in the world today, and laymen like me trust Tyson when it comes to subject matter that is way over my head. I'm not alone in that; even filmmakers, like the directors of Project Hail Mary, ask Tyson about the science. Personally, ‘hand-wavy’ science is all I really need in a story to enjoy, but it’s always great to know that the physics would theoretically work, too.