San Diego Comic-Con 2025: ‘Project Hail Mary’

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are back in live-action mode via ‘The Martian’ author Andy Weir’s book about an unlikely astronaut tasked with saving Earth.

Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary'. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.

Preview:

‘Project Hail Mary’ touched down at Comic-Con.
The panel included Ryan Gosling, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
The movie adapts Andy Weir’s book.

'Project Hail Mary' represents the collaboration between some fairly stellar names in filmmaking. Take directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have brought acclaimed comedies and Oscar-winning animated superhero movies to screens while having fun with genre.

Add in Ryan Gosling, who has proved his chops in both the dramatic and laugh-grabbing departments. And blend them with the invention of Andy Weir, whose book 'The Martian' became a wildly successful movie in its own right.

The result is a space-set adventure that appears to offer plenty of laughs and humanity to go with the big ideas.

Project Hail Mary

Not Yet RatedMar 20th, 2026

Based on Andy Weir’s (The Martian) novel of the same name, Project Hail Mary is an exhilarating space adventure set in the near future. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling),... Read the Plot

So the movie was naturally one that Amazon MGM Studios knew could play well at Comic-Con, with the team showing up for a panel in Hall H.

What’s the story of ‘Project Hail Mary’?

Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary'. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.

‘Project Hail Mary’ is set in the near future. Our hero is Ryland Grace (Gosling), a school teacher-turned-astronaut who wakes up from a coma, alone, on a space station with no memory of who he is or his mission.

His memory returns in bursts and he pieces together that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth, to reverse the impact of a space event that had already hurled our planet into the early stages of an Ice Age.

As details of the mission unravel, he must call on all of his scientific training and sheer ingenuity, but he might not have to do it alone…

What happened at the ‘Project Hail Mary’ panel?

Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace in 'Project Hail Mary'.

Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary'. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.

Much as with big movies such as 'TRON: Ares', the 'Project Hail Mary' team made good use of the giant screens that stretch down the sides of Hall H, projecting logos and the galactic map seen in the trailer.

Those on stage included directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard (who also adapted 'The Martian').

Gosling talked about why he wanted to join the projecting, citing Weir as the greatest science fiction writer (and not just because he was sitting next to him on the panel). He knew it would be great, but not how great.

Here's what else he said:

"It's about a scared guy who doesn't know what he's doing and I was a scared guy who didn't know what I was doing, trying to turn it into a movie."

He called Lord and Miller, which seems like a smart move...

For their part, the directors also used a movie metaphor to describe working with Gosling, in that it's about collaboration and they had a great time working with the actor.

The filmmakers shared new concept art from the movie, including spaceship designs and more.

Biggest news of the panel? Daniel Pemberton, who has experience working with Lord and Miller on the 'Spider-Verse' movies, is the composer for this.

But the best part of the panel? The first five minutes of the movie were shown, including Gosling waking up from an induced coma, befuddled and unsure of where he is. He struggles with a robot that is trying to help him and discovers that the crew in the chamber with him are all dead.

Other clips were shown, but from later in the movie, so we'll avoid discussing those to stay away from spoilers.