PROJECT HAIL MARY Comic-Con Footage Shows Ryan Gosling in What Could Be His Best Role Yet

Ryan Gosling had Hall H roaring with laughter at Comic-Con 2025 as he hyped up his upcoming sci-fi epic Project Hail Mary. The highly anticipated film is based on Andy Weir’s bestselling novel, and we got an early look at several clips that showcased the movie’s humor, tension, and yes, an alien named Rocky.

Joining Gosling on stage were author Andy Weir, screenwriter Drew Goddard, and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, with Joshua Horowitz moderating. The panel hit on everything from scientific accuracy to bizarre set experiences, and apparently, a lot of Vaseline was involved.

Gosling said, nodding to Weir.:

“I was sent the manuscript from the greatest scientific mind of our time. And he’s sitting right next to me! No pressure. I knew it would be brilliant because it’s Andy, but nothing could prepare me for what he’d come up with this time.

“It showed me things I had never seen. It was as heartbreaking as it was funny. I was not just blown away, but also overwhelmed. This story is about a scared guy who has to do something impossible. Now I was a scared guy who had to do something impossible. I called Andy, we became blood brothers. Not really, but we would’ve.”

Gosling added:

“What do you do when you need to do something impossible? You get Amy Pascal to produce it with you. And you try to get the only two visionary directors that could bring this to life with you — It’s unfair to call them visionaries, they’re more like wizards.”

The actor also shouted at one point early on in the panel: “We’re not in Hall B, not in Hall C, what Hall are we in? What’s the H for? It’s for Hail Mary!”

The film’s story follows Ryland Grace, a former science teacher who wakes up aboard a spacecraft with no memory of who he is or why he’s there. As his memory returns, Grace discovers his mission: stop a mysterious substance that’s causing the sun to die and prevent Earth from going extinct. Along the way, he finds an unexpected ally in an alien named Rocky.

We were then treated to four clips from the first act of the movie. Here’s what stood out:

Clip One: The opening scene features Gosling’s Ryland Grace awakening from an induced coma, struggling to answer “What is 2+2?” as am AI’s voice tests his recovery. He can’t speak, comedically stumbles around, crawls across the floor, and, as Gosling put it, looks like “a space caveman in a placenta onesie.” The sequence ends on a grim note when he finds another crew member who didn’t survive, and he’s wondering where he is.

Clip Two: Grace meets Eva, played by Sandra Hüller, in a tense yet hilarious lab scene. While testing a sample in a hazmat suit, Grace discovers a tiny alien cell that is alive… only for it to die moments later because he stabbed it with a needle.

Clip Three: In this scene, zero gravity hits and Gosling lets out a perfect, panicked shriek. But the real shock comes when he detects something unusual, leading to the first glimpse of a ship that will lead to him meeting the alien Rocky.

Clip Four: First contact with Rocky. The alien, portrayed using puppetry for a tangible, lifelike presence, communicates by building model sculptures of Grace and his ship.

Gosling joked about Rocky during the panel, saying, “It’s too soon to talk about Rocky. He’s my friend and he’s not here to speak for himself, so I don’t want to give up his secrets.”

According to Lord and Miller, they worked with puppeteers to make Rocky feel real, calling Gosling “the sixth puppeteer” for how he interacted with the creature.

The first trailer for Project Hail Mary broke records with 400 million global views in its first week making it the most-watched trailer ever for an original movie. The film also stars Milana Vayntrub and Lionel Boyce, and hits theaters on March 20, 2026.

As Gosling summed it up, this isn’t just a survival story, it’s a story about a reluctant hero rediscovering himself through the most unlikely friendship in the universe.

“What is so inspiring about him is that he reacts to a lot of things as I feel like I might or a lot of us might. He’s terrified, appropriately, of the task at hand. He’s somebody who, on earth, has given up on himself and has been given this opportunity to believe in himself again.”

I’ve very excited about watching this movie, it looks like a awesome and very funny sci-fi movie!