When it comes to book-to-screen adaptations, I know that changes are going to have to be made as part of adapting the story. I'm prepared enough for that every time, but it's not often that I have a specific hope that a movie based on a book I love -- one of my all-time favorite reads, in this case -- will change something for the adaptation. Well, that's what happened with Project Hail Mary, which has finally arrived on the 2026 movie schedule. There was one thing I hoped the film adaptation of Andy Weir’s book would do, that really couldn't be done in the novel, and it's like I wished it into existence, because it happened!
That's as vague as I can be without getting into MAJOR book and movie spoilers for Project Hail Mary and its ending. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I strongly suggest you check it out before reading any further. If you’re still on the fence, check out Eric’s review of PHM.
The Thing The Book Couldn’t Show Us
Like the movie, Andy Weir's novel ends with Ryland Grace going back to save Rocky, and then returning to Erid (Rocky's home world), to live there for the foreseeable future. Also like in the movie, Grace learns that Earth is OK, and the Sun is no longer being devoured by astrophage. Good, good, good! What the book doesn't include is a glimpse of Stratt's reaction to what Grace sent back with the beetles.
In the book, we're in Ryland's perspective the entire time, and because the story ends with him living on Erid, there's no way for him to actually see the fruits of his labor, therefore, we don’t either. Rocky tells him the Sun is restored, and he gets to live with the knowledge that what he did worked. I get why the book couldn't show us Earth at the end of the story, but I also really hoped the movie would, since it isn't bound to one point of view.
Stratt’s Final Scene In The Movie
Part of the ending of the film shows an older Stratt on a boat watching Ryland's video of himself introducing Rocky. He also sent her the little Xenonite figurine of himself that Rocky made, which is not only an adorably thoughtful keepsake, it also provides her with her very own sample of Xenon in solid form. And to top it off, Grace closes out his message with the Eridian gesture for goodbye (another bit that wasn't in the book).
I love Eva Stratt in the book and the movie. It isn't just her relationship with Ryland Grace that I appreciate, it's the way this woman handles the decisions she has to make that gets me. As I saw her in the book, she's carrying the weight of humanity's future on her shoulders, which pretty much leaves her no room to shoulder the weight of the decisions she has to make to save Earth.
But, it also seems clear that she knows the burden of those choices will be waiting for her to process once the job is done. Sandra Hüller does such a great job of bringing the character to life in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's adaptation of the story. Some changes related to Stratt were made, but I think the film absolutely did the greatness of the character justice.
With that in mind, I really love that Project Hail Mary let us see Stratt one last time, because this is her win, too. I like to think that Ryland's message to her might help alleviate any guilt she could feel at some point about forcing him to go on the mission. She knew she had to do it, but at the same time, I don't think that means she wanted to, so to see him again, and this time when he isn't angry or scared, has to be a relief (on top of all of the information he sent about how to save humanity, obviously).
Stratt being alive and able to know everything that Ryland Grace did, and that he survived, was always part of my headcanon for the book, but I love-love-love that we actually got to see it in the movie.
