Kristina Bumphrey/Variety/Getty ImagesAndy Weir isn’t as easy to pin down as you might think. Originally, a self-published author who hit it big over a decade ago, today, the author feels like a kind of science fiction guru from another era. And when you sit down and talk to him, you feel like you’re talking to someone who is still experimenting, still curious, not someone who is part of a stodgy establishment. He’s punk rock and old-school, and, from The Martian to Artemis, to Project Hail Mary, author Andy Weir has been credited, along with authors like Cixin Liu and Kim Stanley Robinson, with a specific kind of renaissance in hard SF — the subgenre of science fiction books which favors realistic science applications over fantastical settings or plots.In The Martian, the Weir hero, Mark Watney, famously said: “I'm gonna have to science the sh*t out of this,” which is essentially the 21st-century battle cry for a specific flavor of sci-fi adventure. That said, with Project Hail Mary, Weir didn’t attempt to replicate the fully realistic constraints he set for himself on The Martian. Comparing the two films and novels is natural, of course, both feature a chatty protagonist who sciences-the-sh*t out of a problem to save the day. But there is an evolution at work here.Speaking to Inverse, Weir reflects on his sci-fi protagonist saying that Watney was an “idealized” cipher for himself at the time he wrote The Martian, and that Jazz Bashara from his book Artemis was “a more realistic version of my flaws when I was her age,” Ryland Grace represents something different for Weir, not just in terms of characterization, but, analogously, for his brand of hard sci-fi, too.Ryan Gosling and Andy Weir at San Diego Comic-Con in 2025. | Amy Sussman/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images“Grace is created from whole cloth,” Weir reveals. “He has an almost pathological fear of conflict, and a lot of his personality traits come from that.” Other things created from whole cloth? The sun-sucking astrophage in Project Hail Mary, and the taumoeba that absorbs them. Although Weir has been pigeonholed as a “hard sci-fi writer” (he uses air quotes when talking about himself in those terms), is he really? And if Weir helped make realistic sci-fi hip again, what comes next?The Foundations of Hard Sci-Fi Project Hail Mary feels brand new. But it’s also rooted in a classic science fiction tradition. | Amazon MGMIn the Project Hail Mary novel, there’s a reference made to the ship itself being reminiscent of “something out of a Heinlein novel.” And while there are some space science design reasons for that, Weir makes it clear that although his sci-fi stories are at the bleeding edge of science and culture, his influences are more retro. “I'm firmly in the Gen X category, but I grew up reading the Baby Boomer era of sci-fi,” Weir explains. “I read my father's science fiction collection. And so my holy trinity is Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke. This was back when science fiction was still very optimistic. The future is one that you would think: ‘I wouldn’t mind living there.’” Weir is also a big Sherlock Holmes fan (his favorite Holmes actor is Jeremy Brett), and he’s clearly influenced by the great detective — another foundational science fiction character, a hero who uses science, fictionally, to solve problems.“I love really cool deductive reasoning,” Weir points out. “The Hound of the Baskervilles is really clever, because it revolves around something not happening. I love, like in The Red-Headed League, when Holmes notices the things nobody else sees. He knows in that story, it’s all a distraction. Why are they getting this guy out of the house all day? Let’s see what else is going on?’For anyone who has seen Project Hail Mary, there’s a clear line from Golden Age Science Fiction, and also proto-sci-fi like Sherlock Holmes: The human spirit, a passion for science, and an imagination, combined with intellect, is what makes it all come together. On some level, Grace’s eccentricities are Holmesian, in a sense, human foibles that could get in the way of solving big problems. In the book, while speculating about an alien spacecraft, Grace even says this: “I feel like Sherlock Holmes. All I saw was nothing and I drew a bunch of conclusions.”Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace. | Granada/Amazon MGMThis collision of intellect and human spirit seems to result in an equation that equals hope. Weir’s writing seems to insist: If we think about things hard enough, there’s a way forward. “I don’t really like sci-fi where it’s bleak and dystopian,” he says. “I like the optimistic stuff. I think that’s cool.”Some of this optimism exists in parallel science-forward space franchises right now. When Inverse spoke to For All Mankind showrunners Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert, they both expressed their excitement for Project Hail Mary, noting that “Andy Weir is the best, of course.” And like Project Hail Mary, For All Mankind also is science-ing the sh*t out of problems to make a better tomorrow.Weir is Ready for New Sci-Fi Frontiers If you binged 3 Body Problem on Netflix two years ago, or read Cixin Liu’s novels, you’ll quickly find some kinship between those books and Project Hail Mary; both feature Earth governments coming together, somewhat rapidly, to figure out an extraterrestrial problem. The differences between these are numerous, but it’s notable that two prestigious sci-fi projects based on books, which deal in hard sci-fi, also feature international cooperation in a way that feels aspirational. The outcomes and tone are very different, but for Weir, this can-do spirit often goes hand-in-hand with hard science fiction.“I'll start with a McGuffin that enables the thing I want, and then I'll do it kind of my way,” Weir explains. But just because he hasn’t yet branched out into bigger and more speculative sci-fi tropes, it doesn’t mean he never will. Right now, there are rumors of a possible book and movie sequel to Project Hail Mary, but speaking to Weir, it sounds like he’s open to all sorts of other sci-fi ideas, beyond franchise-building. “I’ll do interdimensional stories or parallel dimensions,” Weir enthuses. “But, no, I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t touch.”That said, Weir distinguishes fairly clearly between science fiction tropes and sci-fi story structures and settings. “There are certain plot structures I don't like and wouldn't do,” he says firmly. And in this rule, he doubles down on his core brand: It’s not just hard science fiction, it’s upbeat science fiction. “I would never do a dystopia story. I really don't like those.”Because the hard sci-fi renaissance isn't about describing in great science-accurate detail everything that’s wrong with the world, instead, Weir and others are showing off the work, principles, and research we need to turn to in order to make it right. And that sounds like something we all could useProject Hail Mary is in theaters now.