Published Mar 24, 2026, 3:26 PM EDT

Andy Weir admits, ‘I wish that I had done it that way in the book.’

Project Hail Mary improved on the book's ‘contrived’ story in one specific way, author says

Photo: Jonathan Olley/Amazon MGM Studios/Everett Collection

Book-to-screen adaptations often radically alter a book’s plot — sometimes so much that the original story is practically unrecognizable . Some authors are philosophical about those changes . Others get vocally mad about them . But Project Hail Mary and The Martian author Andy Weir has an unusual take. Weir tells Polygon that screenwriter Drew Goddard and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller improved the story in one specific way.

Project Hail Mary follows an astronaut, Ryland Grace ( Ryan Gosling in the movie), on a lonely trip to the distant Tau Ceti system, where he’s hoping to find a solution to the parasitic infection that’s dimming Earth’s sun and causing worldwide calamity.…