Project Hail Mary Features A Secret Subplot You Didn't Notice [Exclusive]
by Ethan Anderton · /FilmWe may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Spoilers follow.
"Project Hail Mary" is arguably the best movie of 2026 so far, and it's bound to go down as one of the best movies of all time. It seems that critics everywhere have fallen in love with the dazzling story of scientist turned astronaut Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) sent on a mission to the Tau Ceti solar system in an effort to save Earth from the consequences of a microscopic organism called astrophage that's slowly eating the sun. This leads him to befriend an alien who has also navigated to Tau Ceti to save their own planet from the same cosmic calamity.
The movie is based on the best-selling novel of the same name, written by "The Martian" author Andy Weir. As you can imagine, much like the Matt Damon-led film adaptation directed by Ridley Scott, "Project Hail Mary" deals with plenty of complicated scientific concepts as Earth tries to figure out how to stop astrophage from depleting the sun, which will have catastrophic consequences for humanity. But because the movie has to tell Andy Weir's story in a truncated window of time, not all of the intricate details can make it into the movie, especially when the crux of the film focuses on the developing friendship and collaboration between scientist Ryland Grace and the alien he comes to call Rocky. Thankfully, screenwriter Drew Goddard, who also adapted "The Martian," provides just enough details to satisfy the story without overloading us with exposition.
However, there are also certain details outside of the story's science material that couldn't fit into the movie. In fact, author Andy Weir suggested one little Easter egg for directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller to include in the movie, even if the significance of the detail in question isn't exactly explained. Fortunately, Lord & Miller gave us the scoop on this intriguing element.
Sandra Hüller's character Stratt has to make some tough calls
In "Project Hail Mary" the titular mission is led by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller). She gathers experts from all over the world in order to figure out how to save the planet from a worrisome future. In the book, that includes making some concerning decisions that didn't make it into the movie, simply because they were major developments that would be difficult to explain without extending the runtime significantly. For example, scientists determine one way to help give Earth more time to survive while Project Hail Mary is unfolding is by setting off a nuclear explosion in Antarctica. But that's a moment never mentioned or shown in the movie.
It's these kind of provocative and challenging decisions — not to mention Stratt's desperate choice to force Ryland Grace on the mission after the original science officer and their backup are killed in accidental explosion during an astrophage training exercise — that send Stratt on an even more difficult journey, though it's one that we never actually learn about.
While speaking with Phil Lord & Christopher Miller leading up to the release of "Project Hail Mary," I asked about any Easter eggs that they included in the movie. This prompted them to explain a small tattoo that is only ever so briefly visible on Sandra Hüller's neck in one of the movie's final scenes, and its existence has an entire backstory behind it.
After Grace and Rocky have successfully found another microscopic organism that will eat the astrophage and save their solar systems' suns, Grace sends the Hail Mary's probes back with all of his research and microbiological discoveries. When the information reaches Stratt, she's on a cargo ship and looking much more aged and worn than when we last saw her. Not only has time passed, but she's endured something else rather significant.
Stratt was sentenced to life in prison
At some point after the Project Hail Mary mission to space launches, things on Earth take a turn for the worse. While various governments were collaborating to make Project Hail Mary happen, when survival became difficult due to Earth's changing climate, they turned on Stratt, and she ended up being sentenced to life in prison.
None of this is in the movie, but Phil Lord explained how they very subtly alluded to it, at the request of author Andy Weir (who loves the movie, by the way):
"So one of the things that we kept trying to cram into the movie and just didn't stick was this idea that after Grace went off to space, people did not cooperate. The governments turned on Sandra and dragged her before a criminal court and sent her to prison. And she has a tattoo — this came from Andy [Weir], his idea — so she has a tattoo that says, "I've been in French prison for life.”
Chris Miller further explained the significance of the tattoo and the story behind it:
"So in the final little scene that we added back on Earth, where she's getting the message that Grace sent her, she has a little tattoo that has a V with a line through it — meaning V as in life and then the line meaning without parole. So Andy thought that she had gone to prison without parole, but then had broken out of prison from her connections, and then was sort of on the lam trying to still trying to save the world."
Miller added that they love putting these kinds of details in their movies. "The way that you make a movie feel like the world is rich is having like these little secret stories that there's like a little bit of evidence for that doesn't fully make sense ... But you know that there's more there," the filmmaker explained.
"Project Hail Mary" is in theaters everywhere now.