This weekend finally saw the release of the feature film Project Hail Mary into the world. After weeks of extreme hype and glowing reviews from critics, the Ryan Gosling-starring sci-fi movie arrived, and the audience showed up to break some records. Based on Andy Weir’s novel of the same name, the film has not only won over audiences for its unique story and amazing special effects, but also for its tiny rock-like spider alien character, Rocky. Between Rocky and Gosling’s own Ryland Grace, the film has already made a mark on 2026 movies thanks to its memorable characters.
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Like any giant literary work, though, Project Hail Mary as an adaptation has to leave some things out of the book and condense other elements for the screen. We’ve already revealed some specific subplots and sequences from the Project Hail Mary book that didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie, but one of the biggest changes for Project Hail Mary‘s trip to the screen is in taking away from its ensemble cast. In Weir’s original novel, there are a ton of characters throughout the scenes set on Earth, but quite a few of them aren’t in the movie at all, even though their work in the book is front and center. Spoilers for Project Hail Mary, the book and the film, will follow.
5) Dimitri
In the pages of Project Hail Mary, Dimitri Komorov is a Russian scientist who devises the plan to use Astrophage as both the fuel source and primary propulsion. Dimitri is revealed early in the book, leading a team of Russian scientists who welcome Grace into their fold as they continue to study Astrophage.
The effects of Dimitri’s work are seen on screen in a major scene, though, when Grace demonstrates the sheer power of a small quantity of astrophage by melting a solid brick of metal in front of the astronaut crew. This is a flip on a direct scene from the book, though, as Dimitri is the one showing off this experiment to Grace in the pages of the novel, and not Grace showing off to others. Unlike many of the other characters noted here, Dimitri is not a one-and-done character in Project Hail Mary and has a recurring presence throughout the book, which makes his excision from the story all the more noticeable for book readers.
4) Dr. Francois Leclerc
One of the wildest scenes from the Project Hail Mary book that is not even hinted at in the Project Hail Mary movie is when the decision is made to nuke Antarctica. That makes it sound random, but it’s an important beat in the story, as breaking open the ice with bombs releases methane into the atmosphere and would, in theory, keep the Earth from cooling too much as a result of the Astrophage’s “feeding” on the sun’s heat. This entire sequence being cut from Project Hail Mary, of course, means that the character whose idea it was also fails to find their way to the big screen.
Dr. François Leclerc shows up about halfway through the Project Hail Mary novel, revealed by Stratt to have the job of figuring out how much Astrophage is going to affect Earth’s climate. It proves to be a near-impossible task, with Leclerc citing predictions for how the cooling of the planet will impact the world, noting that he believes in nineteen years’ time half of the global population will be killed. This reveal, along with prodding by Stratt to figure out how to deliberately cause Global Warming on a mass scale, leads Leclerc to his plan to nuke Antarctica.
3) Dr. Lamai
A major detail cut from Project Hail Mary entirely is the subplot about the coma-resistance gene. This little detail proves to be one of the actual factors in getting Dr. Ryland Grace aboard the Hail Mary, as he has the gene, but the character who is at the forefront of this subplot is also absent from the movie. In the pages of Project Hail Mary, Dr. Lamai is a Thai scientist who is put in charge of all medical aspects of the Hail Mary, having been the one to discover the coma-resistance gene.
Dr. Lamai is shown in the story to be testing a fully automated version of her original technology on unconscious monkeys (it was originally planned for cancer patients to be put in comas for their treatment), a necessity since the crew of the Hail Mary will be in comas for years as they venture to Tau Ceti. As part of Dr. Lamai’s biggest scene in the book, Stratt demands to be tested for the coma-resistance gene, revealing that she will have everyone involved in the Hail Mary project tested as well, setting up the reveal that Dr. Grace does have it. To take this cut character a step further, Dr. Lamai’s automated medical technology is all over the Project Hail Mary movie from the opening scene.
2) Steve Hatch
One of the key pieces of the Hail Mary’s mission is that after discovering why Tau Ceti is immune to the effects of Astrophage, they will need to send their findings back to Earth so that something can be done about it. Enter the Beetles, automated small crafts that can be outfitted with the details and are programmed to travel back to Earth. The mind behind all these is revealed to be Steve Hatch, an incredibly Canadian engineer who feels like he would have been played by Rick Moranis if the character were included in the film (and Moranis wasn’t mostly retired).
In Project Hail Mary, Hatch explains the entire point of the beetles to Grace in his jabbering, optimistic, Canadian way, where he also indicates he fully believes in the mission and thinks humanity will survive the Astrophage problem (he’s right!). Hatch is also the reason that the beetles are named after the four Beatles (a detail that IS in the movie), but his absence from the film means that his joke about the test beetle being named Pete Best, the fifth Beatle, isn’t in the final cut.
1) Dr. Robert Redell
One of the most bizarre subplots from Project Hail Mary that isn’t found in the film at all is how the team comes up with enough Astrophage to power the ship itself. Having figured out how to breed the material, they need a means to scale that operation in a major way. Enter Dr. Robert Redell, a man found by Stratt in a New Zealand prison after he was convicted of culpable homicide, after seven people died in an accident at his solar farm. Redell maintains his innocence in the deaths that occurred, and also can’t turn off his scientific brain despite being locked up.
His plan for breeding Astrophage on a large scale involves creating massive solar panels across a huge percentage of the Sahara desert in Africa, a plan that Stratt and Grace believe will work. As a result, Stratt is able to have Redell released from prison to begin work on his plan. Not only is Redell cut from the movie entirely, but so is his plan, and with it, a display of Stratt’s enormous international powers that she has in the book.
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