Amazon MGM's film adaptation of Project Hail Mary changed the book's ending. The blockbuster sci-fi film was released in cinemas on March 20, allowing fans to finally see Andy Weir's novel come to life on the screen, almost a decade after The Martian. The book has a devoted fanbase, so any changes could be critical to Project Hail Mary's reception, but in this case, the changes made to the film work.
Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for the ending of Project Hail Mary.
Project Hail Mary follows a school science teacher turned unexpected astronaut, Ryland Grace (played by Ryan Gosling), on an intergalactic mission to save Earth's sun from dying. Like the book, Project Hail Mary tells two story threads: one, Grace's current mission aboard the Hail Mary starship, and the other, in the past, revealing how Grace came to be part of the mission.
While in the far reaches of space, Grace comes across an extraterrestrial attempting to do the same thing for its planet, an Eridian he names Rocky. The vast majority of Project Hail Mary follows Grace and Rocky as they try to communicate and the friendship they form as they figure out how to save their homes.
Both Grace and Rocky's worlds are threatened by the Petrova Line, which contains a fictional star-eating alien microbe dubbed astrophage. The astrophage has wiped out a line of stars on the Petrova Line and is now coming for Earth's sun, which would send the solar system into a new dark age if successful. While light-years away from their planets, Grace and Rocky discover taumoeba, another alien microbe that serves as a predator astrophage, which they need to capture and return to their planets.
In their adaptation of Project Hail Mary, screenwriter Drew Goddard and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller don't make too many drastic changes, but a few added details in the ending give one particular character an extra moment to shine.
Project Hail Mary Makes A Positive Change to the Book's Ending
The ending of Project Hail Mary plays out the same way in the book and the film: Grace sends the taumoeba samples and instructions on how to save the sun back to Earth via space probes. He then uses what's left of his ship's fuel to pursue Rocky and save him from the taumoeba, which he had discovered could eat through the fabric of his ship. Rocky and Grace return to Erid and save the planet, and the Eridians build Grace a livable home on their planet where he can see out his days.
In the book, after several years of living in Erid, Grace is told that Earth's sun is growing brighter, confirming that his instructions reached home and were successful in saving the sun. However, in the movie, this changes slightly with an epilogue that includes a scene on Earth, from the perspective of Sandra Hüller's Eva Stratt, the head of the Hail Mary project.
Stratt is a consistent presence in Project Hail Mary through its flashbacks, and she and Grace grow an unexpected friendship and respect for each other, despite Stratt being responsible for forcing Grace onto a mission she knew would result in his death.
The Project Hail Mary film reveals what Earth looked like in the years after the Hail Mary had left. An older Stratt is shown receiving Grace's instructions, while living on an Earth with frozen oceans and a dimmed sun. Stratt has consistently been a stern character throughout Project Hail Mary, never breaking at any of Grace's jokes, and even delivering a solemn karaoke session. But in her final scene, upon receiving Grace and Rocky's message, she smiles.
Goddard told Mashable this was a very intentional moment in the script, as he felt that Project Hail Mary "is about three characters," and that they "[needed] to give [Stratt] her moment:"
"Quite honestly, I love writing Stratt. This movie is about three characters, really. It's a triangle between three characters, and we need to give her her moment."
While Weir's novel never departs from Ryland Grace's perspective, the decision in the movie to briefly shift to Stratt's point of view in the epilogue gives the character a final, touching moment in her arc.
It also offers a more engaging way to reveal that Grace's mission was successful, allowing audiences to physically see what happens on Earth after they receive his message, with scientists mobilising to create taumoeba farms that will save the planet.
