Ryan Gosling didn’t sign up to be a hero, but the universe has other plans. In the first trailer for Project Hail Mary, the actor trades his classroom for a spacecraft as he wakes up alone, memory-wiped, and tasked with stopping Earth’s extinction.
Directed by The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film is adapted from Andy Weir’s bestselling 2021 novel of the same name. The film is slated to hit theaters on March 20, 2026.
Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a former middle school teacher who wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there.
What starts as a mystery soon escalates into a high-stakes mission to save humanity—and he’s not alone. The trailer reveals a surprising twist: Grace encounters a mysterious alien companion who’s also trying to rescue his species from cosmic doom.
First trailer for Phil Lord & Chris Miller’s ‘PROJECT HAIL MARY’, starring Ryan Gosling
The film follows a teacher who is sent 12 light-years away from Earth to save humanity after the Sun began to erode.
In theaters on March 20, 2026. pic.twitter.com/lPtD5tjbYT
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 30, 2025
“The sun is not the only star dying,” warns Sandra Hüller’s character in the trailer. “If we do nothing, everything on this planet will go extinct.”
Milana Vayntrub also stars in the film, which features a script by Drew Goddard (The Martian), with Gosling, Weir, Lord, Miller, Amy Pascal, Aditya Sood, and Rachel O’Connor producing.
The film’s early footage, which debuted at CinemaCon in April, struck an emotional and comedic balance that’s quintessential Lord and Miller. Gosling himself said during the event, “They are only happy if they make you do the very rare and coveted laugh-cry.”
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This marks Lord and Miller’s first directorial outing since 22 Jump Street in 2014, and their first major feature following their high-profile exit from Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018. With their return, Project Hail Mary promises to blend spectacle with sincerity, heart with humor.
