Who knew saving humanity could be so hilarious? Project Hail Mary brought the house down at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, with Ryan Gosling describing his astronaut character as wearing a “placenta onesie” that he hopes becomes next year’s most popular cosplay. Because apparently, the future of mankind depends on Ryan Gosling in weird space pajamas.
Project Hail Mary Comic-Con
The Project Hail Mary Comic-Con panel showcased five minutes of the Amazon MGM Studios film, revealing Gosling as Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher who wakes up on a spacecraft with zero memory of how he got there. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie) joined author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard for the Hall H presentation.
“What’s happening, Hall H!” Gosling shouted to over 6,000 fans, sporting a trucker cap and flannel that perfectly captured his character’s everyman appeal. The Project Hail Mary Comic-Con footage showed Grace emerging from cryosleep looking like “a space caveman” and interacting with robotic assistants while trying to piece together his mission.
Buddy Comedy
The Project Hail Mary story revolves around Grace’s unlikely friendship with Rocky, a stone-like alien who becomes his companion in saving both their worlds. “If the universe depended on it,” Miller joked, “can adult men form friendships?” The alien character has already developed a devoted fanbase among Weir’s book readers.
Gosling praised working with the creative team: “What do you do when you’re faced with something impossible? You get Amy Pascal as your producer. Then you try to work with the only two directors who are visionaries enough to help you tell this story—it’s an understatement to call them visionaries, they’re more like wizards.”
March Launch
Project Hail Mary blasts into theaters March 20, 2026, with Sandra Hüller playing Grace’s superior Eva Stratt and Milana Vayntrub as astronaut Olesya Ilyukhina. The film marks Lord and Miller’s return to directing after twelve years, following their departure from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
The Comic-Con audience erupted with laughter during scenes showing Grace’s scientific experiments and his gradual realization of Earth’s dire situation. “I received the script from the most brilliant scientific mind of our time, who happens to be sitting right next to me!” Gosling said about Weir, whose previous novel The Martian became the 2015 Matt Damon hit.
Production wrapped with Gosling also serving as producer alongside Pascal, Lord/Miller, and Weir himself. The Project Hail Mary Comic-Con presentation proved that sometimes the most ridiculous-sounding premises make for the most compelling entertainment.
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