I first began to read Andy Weir’s science fiction novel Project Hail Mary in early 2024 when I was lining up for a concert outside the Forum. Over the course of seven hours, I consumed at least two 7/11 slurpees, made awkward eye contacts with the tourists on Hozier Lane and watched fans around me exchange bracelets and do each other’s makeup. Sitting there, surrounded by ordinary people going about their extraordinary lives while immersing myself in Weir’s story of a lone astronaut trying to save planet earth, I thought to myself: if the world was to end today, there is something worth saving here.

Fast forward to 2026—the film adaptation of Project Hail Mary was released in theatres on 19 March, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by renowned filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The film has since received international acclaim and became a cultural phenomenon, successfully capturing the hearts of critics and cinephiles alike. In the weeks and months following the film’s debut, it was impossible to go online or have a conversation without it being referenced in some way. I was also guilty of participating in the Project Hail Mary frenzy myself, having seen the film three times (twice in IMAX!) in cinemas within a month. So, what about the movie made it so successful?

The short answer is that Project Hail Mary is a film that makes us feel good. In a review for The Los Angeles Times, Amy Nicholson wrote that “While Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey inspired the iPad, Lord and Miller want to inspire a better version of us". Following science-teacher-turned-astronaut Ryland Grace (Gosling) in his mission to solve the mystery of the unexpected dimming of the sun that will soon threaten all life forms on Earth, Project Hail Mary delivers a heartwarming story that celebrates the beauty of humanity and unexpected connections. During Grace’s lonely journey in space, he meets Rocky, an alien with the same mission to save his own planet from the sun dying. Rocky’s character and his relationship with Grace was definitely the highlight of the film, his humorous and endearing personality was paired with the moving evolution of their friendship as they joined forces to save the stars. Typically, alien encounters are framed as points of tension and danger in sci-fi fiction, and Project Hail Mary briefly plays into this trope in Rocky’s introduction as Grace approaches their first meeting with equal caution and paranoia. However, the audience’s expectations were inverted when Rocky is revealed to be a friendly ally seeking connection instead of posing as an extraterrestrial threat. Rather than being a film about humanity’s battle with external monsters and aliens, it becomes an uplifting story about love and survival in the face of an unforgiving universe.

Project Hail Mary’s story of hope and resilience against the backdrop of the vastness of space finds itself in the emerging subgenre of “cosmic hope”. As an inversion of “cosmic horror”, which provokes feelings of existentialism and dread as humanity confronts the reality of a universe much larger than itself, cosmic hope offers a much more optimistic perspective by framing human existence as a part of the incomprehensible and expansive universe of which we already belong. Cosmic hope rejects the paranoia prominent in Lovecraftian cosmic horror, focusing instead on the sense of awe inspired by the beauty and possibilities of the universe and realising that we too play a small part in it. Project Hail Mary captures this feeling effectively in its most memorable and visually impressive scene, where Grace, suspended alone outside his spacecraft, takes a moment to marvel at the magnificent view of the stars surrounding him. As the grandiosity of the soundtrack kicked in, audience members in the cinema gasped in awe as we were given a moment to simply bask in the wonder of the universe before returning to the exhilarating space mission in the film.

The online multimedia fiction series 17776 is another example of cosmic hope that also deals with finding reverence for humanity in the vast and limitless universe. 17776, also known as What Football Will Look Like in the Future, was created by sports journalist Jon Bois and published on the sports blogging platform SBS Nation in 2017. Set in the year 17776, the series follows three sentient space probes who observe and commentate on the lives of humans down on earth from space. We learn that “On April 7th, 2026, people stopped being born. On the same day, people stopped dying, and people stopped aging” and have since concocted creative and unorthodox ways of playing American football to occupy their infinite and neverending lifespan after resolving all social problems. Like Project Hail Mary, Bois’ work evokes a strong appreciation for humanity despite the unfathomable circumstances it finds itself in. 17776 gives a rather affectionate and generous outlook on humanity through the narration of the space probes, who, though drifting slowly away from Earth, still look upon humanity and their passion for football fondly.

In our reality, on 7 April, 2026, the world watched as NASA’s Artemis II mission completed a six-hour fly-by of the Moon after achieving the historic feat of travelling farther from Earth than any human before. The Artemis II mission attracted global attention, as many became moved by the extraordinary journey of the astronauts, particularly when they announced the naming of a lunar impact crater, “a bright spot on the Moon”, Carroll, after Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife. NASA named the collective effervescence “Moon joy”, defining it as “the feeling of intense happiness and excitement that only comes from a mission to the moon”. Everyone was so excited by the mission and its breakthroughs, it felt like being a part of something bigger than ourselves.

On the same day, US President Donald Trump publicly threatened the Iranian regime, declaring that “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Astronomer and writer Carl Sagan once said, “For me, the most ironic token of [the first human moon landing] is the plaque signed by President Richard M. Nixon that Apollo 11 took to the moon. It reads: ‘We came in peace for all Mankind.’ As the United States was dropping 7 ½ megatons of conventional explosives on small nations in Southeast Asia, we congratulated ourselves on our humanity. We would harm no one on a lifeless rock.” It seems that history is repeating itself again. As we rejoiced in the so-called “Moon joy” and cheered for the Artemis II crew’s safe landing on Earth in 2026, the US continued to threaten whole civilisations and wage war in the Middle East.

In many ways, the genre of cosmic hope can be characterised as a form of escapism. It reassures us that the universe is not out to get us, and we are comforted by the beauty of the universe and our small part in it. However, confronted with the suffering and turmoil down here on Earth, it is difficult to reconcile the utopian celebration of humanity with the reality of our earthly troubles. There are no eldritch monsters, only our own destructive greed. Still, I appreciate how cosmic hope inspires us to look for beauty in our precious existence on this pale blue dot. Even in the midst of despair here on our planet, hope can still be found somewhere among the stars.