Andy Weir’s New Time Travel Sci-Fi Thriller Arrives November 5

Andy Weir is known for combining humor, hard science fiction, and gripping survival stories in his bestselling novels The Martian and Project Hail Mary, which were both adapted into blockbuster films. He is sticking to that formula for his next project, a time-travel thriller that launches on Audible on Nov. 5.

Weir serves as the executive producer for the new Audible Original Exoplanet, written by The Ninth Metal and Red Moon author Benjamin Percy. The full-cast immersive audio production stars Anthony Mackie, Ariana DeBose, and John Leguizamo as the crew of a starship that is torn apart by a quantum anomaly. They all wind up on the same planet, but in different times, and must try to help each other while being hunted by an alien intelligence seeking to use human technology to manipulate the future.

“I’m obsessed with problems, the kind where one person and a lot of math are all that stand between survival and disaster,” Weir said in a statement. “Benjamin Percy’s writing in Exoplanet takes that and adds a twist that genuinely kept me up at night: what if the people trying to save each other were separated not by distance, but by centuries? You can’t see that story. You have to hear it. The crackle across a five-hundred-year gap, the desperation in a voice that doesn’t know if anyone’s still listening.”

While Weir has not explored time travel in his books before, communication challenges are a recurring theme. The stranded astronaut Mark Watney has to use the Pathfinder probe to reach out to NASA, and Project Hail Mary character Ryland Grace records messages to send back to Earth along with samples of Taumoeba, waiting years to learn if his mission was successful.

“Andy Weir’s stories transform rigorous science into big-hearted thrill rides with heart-stopping action and intense human emotion,” North America head of Audible content Marshall Lewy said in a statement. “That’s why Andy’s books have sold millions and inspired blockbuster films. With Andy as executive producer and Benjamin Percy crafting beautiful scripts specifically for the ear, Exoplanet is built for the audiences who loved Project Hail Mary and The Martian while also giving them something entirely new.”

Exoplanet launches exclusively on Audible on Nov. 5.

Source: Polygon