Andy Weir’s New Sci-Fi Novel Exoplanet Evokes The Martian and The Twilight Zone

Andy Weir is known for his sci-fi survival stories The Martian and Project Hail Mary, both of which were adapted into blockbuster films. His latest work combines action and ingenuity with a surreal premise that evokes The Twilight Zone.

Weir is executive producing Exoplanet, a full-cast audio thriller written by Benjamin Percy for Audible. The story follows the crew of the starship Wild Blue Yonder after they are scattered across time and land on the same planet in different eras. It releases on Nov. 5.

Audible provided Polygon with an exclusive clip in which Science Officer Logan Bowers, played by John Leguizamo of The Odyssey, wakes up injured and desperately seeks help.

Logan finds a surreal world that resembles a 1950s sitcom. Men in matching khakis and women in identical rose-print dresses picnic in a park, while a little girl with pigtails bikes down the streets. Everyone laughs at his pleas for help except a man dressed like an old-fashioned sheriff. The man warns Logan that his screams have alerted an ominous force, and they must flee before it arrives.

While Logan faces a nightmarish future, First Officer Becca Bang, played by Ariana DeBose of Hamilton and West Side Story, must survive in the past. In the present, Chief Engineer Jeff Shaw, played by Anthony Mackie, tries to get home to his daughter.

The crew must find a way to communicate across time and stop the alien intelligence that tore apart their ship before it can use human technology to reshape reality.

Exoplanet features sound design from Skywalker Sound and a score by Rob Cairns of Love, Death + Robots. The supporting cast includes Cherry Jones of Succession and The Handmaid’s Tale, Sufe Bradshaw of Veep, and Charlie Plummer of All the Money in the World.

Related: The Martian writer won’t write a sequel because he’s busy outrunning science

Source: Polygon