Image via 20th Century Fox
Published Feb 15, 2026, 12:40 PM EST
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If you missed it in theaters — or you watched it once and haven’t stopped thinking about it since — now’s your chance to revisit one of the most quietly ambitious sci-fi films of the last decade. Ad Astra is heading to free streaming next month on Tubi, meaning James Gray’s introspective space epic will soon be available at no cost.
The 2019 film stars Brad Pitt as Roy McBride, an emotionally distant astronaut sent across the solar system to investigate a mysterious power surge that may be linked to his long-lost father. On paper, it sounds like a big-scale interplanetary thriller. And yes, there are stunning sequences — a lunar rover chase, a zero-gravity fight, the haunting quiet of deep space near Neptune. But at its core, Ad Astra is about isolation, legacy, and the emotional cost of obsession. It's basically Apocalypse Now in space, although it does have space pirates.
Alongside Pitt, the movie stars Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) as H. Clifford McBride, Ruth Negga (Passing) as Helen Lantos, Liv Tyler (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Eve McBride, and Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games) as Col. Pruitt.
Image via 20th Century FoxCollider’s review stated that Ad Astra was less a space thriller and more a somber, introspective journey about isolation, legacy, and finding meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe. Directed by James Gray, the film followed Major Roy McBride (Pitt) as he ventured across the solar system to confront his estranged father (Jones), whose mission near Neptune may have triggered catastrophic surges on Earth. Drawing clear inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Apocalypse Now, the film blended cerebral sci-fi with an intimate father-son reckoning.
"I’ve run hot and cold on Gray’s films, but Ad Astra is easily my favorite of his work. It’s a movie that on the surface seems as bleak and unforgiving as the cosmic setting. Roy stares out into the abyss and the abyss stares back at him. But rather than embracing nihilism in an empty void, Ad Astra finds reconciliation and redemption. While a few of Roy’s choices grate on me a bit, the overall picture is still a powerful narrative about the emptiness of the universe not serving as a prison but as a promise. To strip ourselves of humanity may protect us from scars, but it won’t heal us and it won’t save us. The vacuum of space is cold and unforgiving, but Ad Astra is anything but."
Ad Astra will stream for free on Tubi beginning March 1.
Release Date September 17, 2019
Runtime 124 minutes
Director James Gray
English (US) ·