How To Watch Ryan Gosling's Project Hail Mary At Home
by Nina Starner · /FilmIf you missed "Project Hail Mary" in theaters, I've got good news. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's audacious sci-fi movie, which adapts Andy Weir's best-selling novel, is coming to video-on-demand services.
As of May 12, 2026, you can stream this box-office juggernaut in the privacy of your own home and watch as star Ryan Gosling, who plays biology teacher turned astronaut hero Dr. Ryland Grace, befriends the world's cutest rock-alien Rocky (puppeted and voiced by James Ortiz). After working with a group of scientists to study astrophage, an odd substance that appears to block the sun, Ryland ends up alone aboard a spacecraft far from home. With Rocky's help, he learns more about astrophage and even figures out a way to combat it.
If I'm being very honest, seeing "Project Hail Mary" on the big screen is a genuinely spectacular experience ... and if the movie is ever re-released in theaters as blockbusters sometimes are, it's absolutely worth seeking out. (This feels especially possible when you consider that Amazon MGM, the film's studio, already gave it a lengthy release window to get as many butts in seats as possible.) With that said, if you missed this super-popular movie in theaters, now's your chance to experience it from the comfort of your own home. So what is "Project Hail Mary" about, and why is it a must-see movie of 2026?
Watch Project Hail Mary for a stunning Ryan Gosling performance and stay for the emotional story
At the risk of making people mad, I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of Andy Weir's writing style, with the utmost due respect to the best-selling author (I guess a lot of people have more patience for reading equations than I do). Part of this is also because I, as a reader and moviegoer, don't typically go for sci-fi fare. You know what rocks about "Project Hail Mary," though — pun very much intended? This smart, silly, funny, and tear-jerking film transcends genre.
When we first meet Ryan Gosling's Dr. Ryland Grace, he's waking up in a massive spacecraft all on his own ("Project Hail Mary" uses a non-linear narrative), and as the movie continues, we figure out why he's there, what he's trying to do, and learn that he's not actually alone. Enter Rocky, a rock-shaped alien from a race known as the Eridians. After Ryland and Rocky figure out how to communicate across languages — and also discover that they can't safely share the same atmosphere, necessitating a sort of climate-controlled cage for Rocky — they start to develop an organism they name Taumoeba that might be able to deal with the ongoing astrophage issue affecting various parts of the known universe.
"Project Hail Mary" will keep you on the edge of your seat — or edge of your couch cushion, I guess — until the very end, and it's a delightful, worthwhile journey led wonderfully by Gosling at his most charismatic. Rent it today; you won't regret it.