Sci-Fi Stories: Red Rising Coming to the Silver Screen, a New Alien Movie, and Andy Weir’s Quantum Anomaly

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Credit: Penguin Random House.

Here are a few sci-fi stories of interest.

—Comic Book Resources: “Game of Thrones Meets Star Wars In Paramount’s New Space Opera Based on a Book“

Paramount Pictures will soon be bringing the space opera adventures of a celebrated 2014 novel to life, combining the best elements of Game of Thrones and Star Wars in a much-anticipated Red Rising adaptation. Over the years, we’ve seen some incredible adaptations of some of the most thrilling and surprising sci-fi novels in history, including the likes of Dune, Blade Runner, Project Hail Mary, Annihilation, and many more. Red Rising will soon be joining them as a brand-new sci-fi adaptation…Red Rising is set in a dystopian future in which humans have colonized Mars, and follows 16-year-old Darrow, who belongs to a caste of citizens known as Reds, while society is ruled by the mentally and physically superior Golds. The Reds are enslaved, mining helium-3 for the Golds, who stress that their efforts will help terraform the planet for future generations. After his wife Eo is hanged and his own death is faked, however, Darrow infiltrates the Golds to bring them down from within.

—Deadline: “Aaron Guzikowski Tapped To Pen New ‘Alien’ Movie For 20th, Scott Free“

Aaron Guzikowski, creator of the Scott Free-produced HBO Max sci-fi series Raised by Wolves, is scripting a new Alien movie for 20th Century Studios, Deadline can confirm. Not much else is known about the project at this stage, including whether it would follow up the most recent installment, 2024’s Alien: Romulus. It’s described as being in very early development. Scott and Michael Pruss will produce for Scott Free, with, J.R. Young overseeing for the studio.

—Fandom Wire: “Andy Weir’s 2026 Sci-Fi Series Has a Premise So Wild, It Puts Project Hail Mary to Shame“

The Martian and Project Hail Mary author Andy Weir is back with a bang (rather an implosion) with a premise so wild that it puts Project Hail Mary to shame. Not literally, but an upcoming audiobook, on which Weir serves as an executive producer, has a highly intriguing premise where the rules of survival are spread across time. The audiobook recently appeared on Audible, with the first teaser trailer launched recently. Written by Benjamin Percy and executive produced by Andy Weir, Exoplanet follows three members of a spaceship who encounter a quantum anomaly. Crash-landing on the same hostile planet but separated between three different time periods, the trio attempts to communicate across centuries in order to escape the hostile planet.

Sci-Fi Quote: Prepping for the Second Season of Starfleet Academy

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Image (Credit): Cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy in the series second season. (Paramount+)

“Season 1 is about letting go of who you were in the past to start again at Starfleet Academy…Season 2 is about thinking you knew who you were, only to realize that as you grow older that your life is going to go in directions you didn’t expect and you’re going to have to shift your perception of yourself.”

-Statement by Noga Landaux, co-showrunner ofthe television series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, during the 2026 New York Comic-Con Star Trek Universe panel. The second and last season returns in March 2027. It is not clear why it is taking so long for the second season to drop given that filming wrapped up back in February. Could it mean that it still has a chance to be picked up again for a third season, or is that just wishful thinking?

Sci-Fi Quote: Black Mirror is Today’s Twilight Zone

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Image (Credit): The crew from Black Mirror’s USS Callister. (Netflix)

“In Serling’s day, the atom bomb, civil rights, McCarthyism, psychiatry and the space race were of primary concern. Today he’d be writing about terrorism, the economy, the media, privacy and our relationship with technology…That’s what we’re aiming for with Black Mirror: each episode has a different cast, a different setting, even a different reality. But they’re all about the way we live now – and the way we might be living in 10 minutes’ time if we’re clumsy.”

-Statement by Charlie Brooker, creator of the Black Mirror series, as quoted by Collider. Season 8 of the series will premiere on Netflix shortly. The series has been very timely as we deal with new technologies, social media, and now artificial intelligence. You might also recall two earlier episodes with the USS Callister, which was a clever and dark mimicking of Star Trek. Another good episode, called “Beyond the Sea,” also dealt with space travel. Hopefully, we will get a least one more space-related episode out of the new season.

The Original Star Wars Returns: Get Your Tickets

Posted on by onespaceman2000

If The Mandalorian and Grogu was not your favorite film this summer, you have plenty of time to prepare for the release of the original Star Wars film on its 50th anniversary. That’s right, it will be 50 years old next year.

The original Star Wars film was released on May 25, 1977. The re-release on IMAX will be available on February 19, 2027. You can sign up here to be notified when tickets become available in your area.

By original, I mean the version of the film before George Lucas started mucking it up with extra effects, such as the addition of a CGI Jabba the Hutt. You will be able to watch what everyone was watching in 1977.

And if that’s not enough, next year will also see the release of Star Wars: Starfighter with Ryan Gosling. It will premiere on 28 May, 2027, the same week as the original film in 1977. Starflighter was filmed for IMAX screens, so that will be an option as well.

Movie: South Korea’s Hope

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Forged Films.

If you are still hoping for one more summer movie about space aliens (it was released on September 9th even if it is officially fall now), South Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jin has another one to add to your list. The movie, Hope, is a thriller set in a small South Korean town on the border with North Korea. While the residents look north for a fearsome foe, little do they know the foe is from above. That’s right – extraterrestrials.

This preview indicates there will be plenty of action, though in the movie itself the aliens do not show themselves until late in the film. Hope may satisfy your need for alien battles after Disclosure Day portrayed the visitors as ICE captives and The Mandalorian and Grogu proved to be a kiddie film. How American films went from Alien terror to teddy bears this past summer is anyone’s guess.

The film reviews are mixed at best, but still somewhat encouraging.

A Deep Focus Review noted:

To work, Na’s film needed either more or less screen time for his aliens, and given their appearance, less would have been preferable. Still, action junkies and South Korean cinema fans will probably be able to look beyond the poor CGI better than I can, making it worth seeing, even admiring Hope, with caveats abounding.

The Roger Ebert site had this to say:

It’s bold, provocative, and assured filmmaking that oscillates between moments of breathtaking cinematic prowess and satirical characterizations, whose coy rendering turns a mirror toward those who unconsciously lap up hollow action heroes when the far more intriguing story exists in plain sight.

To finish up the summer stretch, you should see it for yourself and decide.