Project Hail Mary plot

 

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  A science teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing Earth's sun, and realizes that an unexpected friendship may be the key.
• Middle school science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light-years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: to solve the riddle of the mysterious substance that is causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction... but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.

  —Amazon MGM Studios
• Twelve light-years away from home, Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher with a penchant for going against the grain, wakes up from an induced coma. His body is weak, his memory is foggy, and he is in for a rude awakening: the bright dot on the star chart is not our sun. All alone on an eerily silent interstellar ship, Grace must piece together his fragmented memories to explain how he ended up in space and became entangled in a desperate, one-way mission to save humankind. It is a long shot; however, with our stars and sun dying, attempting the impossible is better than surrendering to extinction. In the endless void, the concepts of duty, selflessness, and mortality take on an entirely different, more profound meaning. But can Ryland believe in himself and the ambitious Project Hail Mary?

  —Nick Riganas
• A mysterious organism is cooling the Sun, a phenomenon that will have catastrophic consequences for Earth. Research has revealed that this is not unique to our Solar System, stars across the universe are cooling, likely due to this organism. However, one distant star is not and therein potentially lies the answer to combating the scourge. A three-person spacecraft is sent to investigate the star and find what makes it immune to the plague – Project Hail Mary. The scientist in the crew is a microbiologist, Dr Ryland Grace.

  —grantss

Synopsis

• Ryland Grace (RYAN GOSLING) awakens from an induced coma aboard the interstellar spacecraft Hail Mary. A robot attempts to orient him to his surroundings, and Grace panics, flopping off the table and scooting out of the room. Disoriented and suffering from retrograde amnesia, he searches the ship for other humans or clues to his location and finds the other two crew members still in their pods, deceased. He climbs into the upper decks of the ship and is shocked to see he is in outer space. The ship informs him that he is the only living person on the manifest, and that transmission time to Earth would be 11 years, ten months, and four days. Grace learns he is the sole surviving member of a three-person mission traveling toward the Tau Ceti system, 11.9 light years from Earth.
  
  Grace has flashbacks of the ArcLight scope's journey to view the Petrova line, a phenomenon stretching from the Sun toward Venus. He remembers being a middle school science teacher, showing his students how sound waves look. Students ask him about the "space dots eating the sun," which he brushes off as a topic for their parents. Playing a game of "the ball is lava," he is tricked into answering their questions and explains that the dots may be dimming the Sun, potentially cooling the Earth ten to fifteen degrees over 30 years. As the classroom panics, Grace insists the best minds in the world are "on it."
  
  Aboard the ship, Grace shaves his beard and searches for provisions, finding saline bags of vodka and packs of ramen noodles. He searches the crew's belongings, piecing together fragments of their identities and his own.
  
  In an earlier flashback, Grace sits in his classroom when Eva Stratt (SANDRA MÜLLER) of the Petrova task-force visits him, requesting his help based on a paper he wrote arguing that scientific consensus about the requirements for life might be wrong. No one in his field wants anything to do with him because he refused to back down from his beliefs. She follows him into the parking lot as he tries to leave. His paper detailed how life on another planet might not need water to evolve. Stratt asks him to come with her and Carl (LIONEL BOYCE) to identify what the Petrova line samples are made of. Grace protests that others are more qualified, but she notes that the life form on the sun isn't melting, which does not sound like water to her.
  
  Grace is taken to a lab and placed in an isolated room, where he wonders whether he was brought in because he is expendable; Stratt and the other scientists agree they'd prefer he not die. Examining the moving samples, which are unaffected by light sources, he injects one with a needle and gleefully announces it is a tiny living alien cell, though the cell dies shortly after. He is deflated to learn the organism is made almost entirely of water.
  
  Later, Stratt visits Grace outside the lab. He explains that the organisms give off an abundance of infrared light he cannot account for, at the same wavelength as the Petrova line, and theorizes they consume the Sun's energy and expel it to move, though he does not know why they travel to Venus specifically. She thanks him and dismisses him, but he chases after her, arguing to be included in the project. She leaves him three additional samples, plus the one he killed, to examine.
  
  Back on the ship, Grace examines several etchings on the wall. In another flashback, Grace and Carl theorize about why the organisms travel to Venus rather than a closer planet. Carl proposes what becomes known as the Carl Hypothesis: that the organisms are drawn to something specific about Venus's environment. Using Carl's expense account, they buy cardboard, aluminum foil and duct tape to test the idea, temporarily losing the astrophage samples before placing the box in total darkness to preserve them. Grace discovers the organisms have bred, making he and Carl "fathers."
  
  A fighter jet flies Grace to a boat where Stratt brings him into a conference room with dozens of scientists from around the world, who have replicated his results through more rigorous methods. Stratt grants him top secret clearance for Project Hail Mary and delivers a presentation: every nearby star has become infected with the organism, now named astrophage, except Tau Ceti, for reasons unknown. An international effort is building a ship to travel 11.9 light years to investigate. The ship will use astrophage as fuel but will not carry enough for a return trip; the crew will die in space, and their findings will be sent home via probe. Without a solution, the world's nations will turn on each other as the crisis worsens. The astronauts will spend most of the trip in a coma. The mission requires three specialists: a pilot, an engineer, and a scientist.
  
• Back aboard the Hail Mary, Grace carries the bodies of Captain Yáo Li Jie (KEN LEUNG) and engineer Olesya Ilyukhina (MILANA VAYNTRUB) to the airlock, delivering eulogies based on their personal belongings before releasing them into space. Sitting in a simulation room, he braces for impact as the ship enters a countdown, but the ship merely shuts down upon reaching Tau Ceti's orbit. He observes that the star also has a Petrova line, but it is not dimming. He detects a ship intersecting the line, which the Hail Mary identifies as Blip-A. Grace attempts to fly away, but the alien ship follows. A mechanism releases Blip-B, which Grace avoids, suspecting a bomb; it merely dings off the hull. Blip-C moves more slowly, giving Grace time to spacewalk and retrieve it. Examination reveals it is composed of solid xenon, despite xenon normally being a gas.
  
  In a flashback, Stratt works with a scientist to create artificial gravity aboard the Hail Mary using a centrifuge, allowing tools to function properly in space.
  
  Back in the present, the Hail Mary enters a state of gravity while Blip-A observes through a scope. Realizing the aliens' conventions may be inverted from his own, Grace opens Blip-C using "righty loosey, lefty tighty" reversed. Inside is a 3-D model of a star system with 40 Eridani highlighted, indicating the aliens' origin. Grace adds an extension labeled "Earth" to indicate his own point of origin. Blip-D contains a model showing Blip-A connected to the Hail Mary. A tunnel then extends from Blip-A and attaches to the Hail Mary, allowing Grace to spacewalk to its window, where he is startled by the appearance of a rock-like creature. The creature taps the window and presents a 3-D model of Grace followed by the Hail Mary, acting out Grace's return to his ship. The tunnel detaches once Grace is back aboard.
  
  The tunnel reattaches, this time pressurized with gravity. Grace sets up cameras and lighting, knocks on the window, and holds up a ramen-noodle model of Blip-A. After a tense pause, the creature returns to the window, initially skittish as the two mistake each other's signals for aggression. It begins imitating Grace's movements, including dances and poses, to demonstrate it is not a threat. Grace observes the alien has no visible face. He attempts what seems to be a tapping game until the alien, frustrated, clarifies it is pointing to a separate gift rather than tapping. Grace does not initially understand the gift, or why the alien wants him to remove his helmet, until he recognizes two rings of eight: oxygen. He removes his helmet and finds he can breathe inside the tunnel without his suit, and the two ships begin rotating in tandem.
  
  Back aboard the Hail Mary, Grace examines the gifts and realizes both crews are dealing with an astrophage problem affecting their home stars. To bridge the language gap, Grace turns to mathematics and names the creature Rocky, for his rock-like appearance. Rocky plays with a ruler without understanding its purpose, wrapping it around himself, and largely ignores a clock Grace presents. Grace realizes Rocky's species perceives surfaces rather than light, seeing only the clock's outline; he adds tape to the clock face so Rocky can read it via echolocation. In response to Rocky's happy reaction, Grace demonstrates a "thumbs up," but Rocky insists on "thumbs down" instead, and the two agree thumbs down will signify a positive response between them. Rocky then shows Grace the Eridian equivalent of a clock.
  
  Grace develops software to translate Eridian's musical language into English. As they refine communication, Grace records video journals describing Rocky for the team on Earth. Rocky reveals he is a mechanical engineer who works with a solid metallic form of xenon Grace dubs xenonite. Rocky's own star is also dying, and the two agree to help each other, with Rocky expressing relief at no longer being alone. His original crew numbered 23 Eridians, all of whom died in their sleep; Grace shares that he lost two crew-mates as well. They agree they now only have each other, sealing the sentiment with a fist bump through the window and the phrase "Grace Rocky Save Stars."
  
  The two build models together, with Rocky teasing Grace over his poor craftsmanship. Tired of reading Rocky's translated text responses, they test a series of synthesized voices to select one for Rocky. When Grace explains he needs to sleep, Rocky misunderstands the concept as death and insists on watching Grace sleep, since it is unsafe for Eridians to be unwatched while unconscious; his own crew died while he slept unwatched. Grace agrees to sleep in the connecting tunnel, and the two begin taking turns watching over each other.
  
  In a flashback on Earth, Stratt introduces Grace to the astronauts chosen for the mission: Yáo Li Jie, Olesya Ilyukhina, and Martin DuBois (MALACHI KIRBY). Yáo reveals that each crew member will have the option to end their life once the mission's objectives are complete. Dr. Sood explains how astrophage will power the ship's engines, and Grace demonstrates that a single gram of the organism can melt a metric ton of metal. Grace thanks Yáo for his bravery, admitting he could not do what Yáo is about to do; Yáo replies that he does not need to be brave, only for someone else to be brave in his place.
  
  Back in the present, Grace opens the airlock to Rocky, who is contained within a protective enclosure that shields him from Grace's atmosphere. Rocky moves through the ship making a mess and asking a stream of questions, and Grace's attempts to set boundaries are largely ignored. Grace records a video journal describing the adjustment difficulties of his new roommate. Through further discussion, he learns that radiation exposure killed the rest of Rocky's crew. The two devise a plan to orbit the planet where astrophage breeds, collect a sample, and determine why the organism has not infected Tau Ceti.
  
  Grace shows Rocky a mental health simulation dome depicting scenes from life on Earth. They watch films and sing karaoke together. Rocky expresses excitement about both of them eventually returning home, and Grace allows the idea to stand for the moment without correcting it. Rocky shares that he has a mate on Erid whose name is long and musical.
  
  In a flashback to a karaoke celebration among the astronauts before launch, Stratt waits outside while Grace comments on the strangeness of celebrating amid impending catastrophe. She expresses hope that the mission succeeds, and the two share a quiet moment before returning inside, where Stratt takes the stage and sings; Grace watches her, visibly moved.
  
  Back in orbit around Tau Ceti, Grace examines the planet Tau Ceti e and its own Petrova line. Following an Earthly custom of naming new discoveries, he suggests naming the planet after Rocky's mate, giving it the human name Adrian. Once back aboard the Hail Mary, they determine the astrophage is not leaving Adrian's atmosphere, suggesting the presence of a predatory life form. Rocky has a breakthrough, realizing that a bacteria on Adrian preys on astrophage. If they can bring the substance home, both species could save their stars. Unable to fly the ship into Adrian's atmosphere directly, Rocky proposes lowering a collection device on roughly five kilometers of chain. Rocky records his own video diary describing their plan.
  
  Grace tells Rocky that, having used the ship's remaining fuel and resources on the mission, he will not be able to return home and will instead die alone in space. He says he has made peace with this outcome, having gotten to meet Rocky and accomplish something extraordinary; Rocky calls him "brave" in Eridian. After a long pause, Rocky offers to give Grace enough of his own ship's astrophage fuel for Grace to return home, delaying his own return by six years. Rocky explains he was unable to save his own crew, but can ensure "Grace go home." Grace breaks down, admitting he did did not truly mean it when he said he'd made peace with dying, and embraces Rocky's enclosure, a gesture new to the Eridian.

In a flashback, Grace updates Stratt on the mission's progress on Earth; she compliments him as a good teacher, and moments later the research facility is rocked by a massive explosion.

Back at Tau Ceti, Grace pilots the Hail Mary over Adrian and spacewalks to retrieve the collection device. The ship becomes unstable in Adrian's gravity, and Grace nearly loses the device before recovering it at the last moment, risking his life in the process. As astrophage begins migrating toward Adrian, the two are forced to eject contaminated fuel; both are thrown through the ship during the process, and Grace is knocked unconscious as the Hail Mary spins out of control. Rocky breaks out of his enclosure to save him, sustaining severe injuries.

In a flashback on Earth, Grace learns that a quartermaster's error caused the accident that killed the original science team. Stratt asks Grace to take DuBois's place on the mission; he refuses, insisting he is not an astronaut and not the person for the job. She argues he is uniquely suited, having no attachments on Earth and full knowledge of the mission, and gives him three hours to decide.

Grace wakes aboard the ship and follows a trail of scorched tissue to Rocky's damaged enclosure, where he finds his friend barely conscious. He promises to watch over Rocky as he recovers, on the condition that Rocky wakes again. Over the following days, with little improvement in Rocky's condition, Grace works to isolate and study Adrian's astrophage-killing bacteria, eventually succeeding and breaking down in relief. He names the organism taumoeba, anticipating Rocky will dislike the name, and breeds a nitrogen-resistant strain using xenonite breeder tanks Rocky had built, working to produce enough for the trip home. Rocky eventually wakes and taps on the enclosure; Grace is overjoyed to find him alive, and shows him the tanks full of taumoeba. The two celebrate.

In the mental health dome, Grace gives Rocky a laptop and a small plush model of Earth to remember him by. Rocky, feeling he has nothing to give in return, asks what Grace would want; Grace asks to see Rocky's ship. Rocky builds him a special suit and gives him a tour.

In a flashback, Grace again refuses Stratt's offer to join the mission. She argues that a third of the world's population will die within 30 years without a solution. He understands the stakes but says he isn't brave enough. She tells him she isn't trying to convince him, that she intends to place him in an early coma regardless, and that she believes in him even as he calls it a betrayal. Grace flees, is tackled by agents near a fence, and begs Stratt not to go through with it. Carl insists that Grace will be great.

Aboard the ships at Tau Ceti, Grace and Rocky say their goodbyes. Rocky jokes that Grace is the bravest human he's known, and admits he does not understand the human concept of "goodbye," since Eridians do not have an equivalent; instead he plays a series of notes on his arm, which Grace mimics back. They part with a thumbs up exchanged through their respective windows.

Grace begins his journey back toward Earth when the ship's AI alerts him to a contamination: the taumoeba has evolved the ability to pass through xenonite and consume the material itself. He seals the affected containers before the organism can reach the ship's astrophage fuel, but realizes Rocky's entire ship is built from xenonite, meaning he has no way to contain a leak and will die slowly from fuel loss or radiation exposure. Grace faces a choice between returning home or saving Rocky, unable to do both. He releases the mission's probes, named after the Beatles: John, Paul, George and Ringo as the Beatles' song "Two of Us" plays on the soundtrack. The probes are loaded with taumoeba samples and detailed logs and video journals, then Grace redirects the Hail Mary away from Earth to rescue his friend. The journey takes nearly two months; Rocky, in visible distress, comes to the window to meet him regardless.

More than a decade later, Stratt watches Grace and Rocky's video logs on an Earth increasingly covered in ice, and calls her team to begin implementing a solution using the returned research.

On Erid, Grace wakes in a home built for him and greets a robot companion named Aramando. Rocky knocks and brings him outside to a replicated beach environment. Grace is amazed by the ocean but requests a more consistent water temperature; Rocky says he will ask Adrian to address it. Grace enjoys the fog and the water's edge. Rocky tells him that Eridian scientists have finished preparing the Hail Mary for a possible return voyage to Earth, and Grace asks for time to consider the decision; Rocky encourages him to take as long as he needs. They part for the day, and Grace heads to a section of the dome where a group of young Eridians awaits him. He greets his class and asks them about the speed of light, met with their excited response.