Ryan Gosling Unveils Hilarious Footage of His Project Hail Mary ‘Space Caveman’ Character at Comic-Con

Ryan Gosling is ready to take moviegoers to space.

The actor-producer, 44, appeared at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, July 26, to tease his upcoming spacefaring blockbuster Project Hail Mary, a science-fiction comedy based on author Andy Weir’s 2021 novel of the same name.

The movie sees Gosling as a middle school science teacher named Ryland Grace, tasked with traveling into space 11.9 light-years away in order to determine why dozens of stars — and the sun — are dying, risking extinction of all life on Earth. 

“It took me places I’ve never been, it showed me things I had never seen,” said Gosling of the film. “It was as heartbreaking as it was funny. … This story is about a scared guy who has to do something impossible. Now, I was a scared guy who had to do something impossible, just trying to turn this into a movie.”

Oscar-winning filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) directed Project Hail Mary from a script by Drew Goddard, who also adapted author Weir’s novel The Martian into the space-faring film that starred Matt Damon.

Lord, Miller, Goddard and Weir joined Gosling for the footage-filled Hall H panel, moderated by Josh Horowitz.

The crowd was treated to the hilarious first five minutes of the film, depicting Gosling’s Grace — who he called “an ordinary person in this extraordinary situation” — waking up from a cryogenic state. “You may have noticed he looks like a space caveman, in this placenta onesie,” quipped the Barbie star. A placenta onesie, he added, is a costume “I hope to be seeing at Comic-Con one of these days.”

Working closely with Goddard and Weir, Gosling said he “tried to create these different layers to him as he’s evolving from a space caveman to a space person that needs to do some really important stuff.”

“What’s so inspiring about him is he reacts to a lot of things like I might or a lot of us might, and he’s terrified appropriately of the task at hand,” he continued. “He’s somebody who on Earth had given up on himself, and has been given this opportunity to believe in himself again.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

A teaser trailer released on June 30 shows Gosling’s character spending a significant amount of time alone in space. He also appears to befriend an alien on his mission, which is dubbed the titular “Project Hail Mary” by costar Sandra Hüller.

That mineral-like alien, the team revealed, is nicknamed Rocky. “It’s too soon to talk about Rocky,” demurred Gosling. “He’s not here to speak for himself.”

The faceless, five-limbed creature, glimpsed in another scene, will come to life through a mix of computer-generated animation and puppetry courtesy of The Jim Henson Company, the team revealed.

“It comes alive in a way where you would die for this character,” said Miller, pointing out that strange creatures don’t need faces to be beloved.

Miller, Lord and their designers worked diligently on nailing the accuracy in Project Hail Mary‘s math and science, consulting Weir for questions on astronomy.

Ultimately, Miller said, “it’s a story about connection, it’s about hopefulness and about humanity. It’s a very emotional story.”

Lord quipped that the movie “answers the question: ‘If the universe depended on it, can adult men make friends in six days?’ “

Project Hail Mary, costarring Lionel Boyce, Milana Vayntrub and Ken Leung, is in theaters on March 20, 2026. San Diego Comic-Con 2025 runs from July 24 to July 27.