The sci-fi author's most recent novel is Project Hail Mary, which was published in 2021 and centers on Ryland Grace, a teacher who wakes up on a starship with no memory of what came before. He discovers that his crew members have died. As the story unfolds, he discovers the truth about what happened and why he ended up there.
It's been five years since Project Hail Mary's release, and in an interview with ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns for Audible's Exoplanet, Weir revealed that, like his previous works, the book he's currently writing is "another standalone novel, not a sequel to anything, and that's coming along well."
He recently crossed the 95,000-word mark in his draft, and he's now "closing in on the conclusion" and writing the third act.
Weir made it clear that this is only the first draft of the novel, so once he's done, he'll send it over to his editor, who will give him various notes and recommended changes.
"Then I spend three days crying and questioning whether or not I should really be an author," he joked, before adding that he'll go through and make changes as the back-and-forth with his editor continues. Fans shouldn't expect it to be released for another year.
Andy Weir: "As for my current book, it’s another standalone novel, not a sequel to anything, and that’s coming along well. I just crossed over about 95,000 words in the writing, so I’m closing in on the conclusion. I’m well into the third act, but this is a first draft. So once I finish that, then I send it to my editor. Then he sends me his notes, then I spend three days crying and questioning whether or not I should really be an author. [Chuckles] And then I get to work fixing it, and so on, back and forth. So it’s probably on the order of a year before it’s on shelves."
A long time ago, Weir had mentioned that he was working on a story about AI. Ever since then, everyone has assumed that's what the next book will be about.
However, he has now clarified that while he did come up with that idea, "I wrote a little bit of it and it sucked, so I stopped working on it and did something else."
Andy Weir: "Also, I wanted to speak to one other thing. I see a lot of articles saying that my next story is going to be about AI. It’s not. I understand how that misapprehension happened, because long ago in an interview, I said I was working up an idea for an AI story. I did work up an idea for an AI story. I wrote a little bit of it and it sucked. [Laughs] So I stopped working on it and did something else."
In other words, the current draft he's writing does not revolve around artificial intelligence as previously suggested, but so far, Weir hasn't revealed the upcoming novel's premise except to say that it's in the sci-fi genre.
It also won't be a sequel to Project Hail Mary. The author has said in the past that he won't revisit that bestselling book unless he comes up with an idea he's happy with, which he just reiterated to ScreenRant.
Project Hail Mary was adapted for the big screen this year in a blockbuster film starring Ryan Gosling that earned $684 million at the box office and is one of the highest-grossing movies of the year, behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Odyssey, Toy Story 5, Michael, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Project Hail Mary also received rave reviews and a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the meantime, Andy Weir executive-produced an Audible original audiobook called Exoplanet, written by Benjamin Percy. The sci-fi thriller boasts an all-star cast, including Anthony Mackie, Ariana DeBose and John Leguizamo. The story revolves around a starship that experiences a quantum anomaly and sends its crew to completely different eras. Exoplanet will be released exclusively on Audible on November 5.
Release Date
March 15, 2026
Runtime
157 minutes
Director
Christopher Miller, Phil Lord
Writers
Drew Goddard, Andy Weir
Producers
Aditya Sood, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rachel O'Connor, Ryan Gosling
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James Ortiz
Rocky (voice)
English (US) ·