First Look: Andy Weir Teases New Sci-Fi Audio Project Exoplanet

Exoplanet, a new audio sci-fi thriller starring Anthony Mackie, Ariana DeBose, and John Leguizamo, arrives next month and IGN can exclusively reveal the Audible Original’s cover art ahead of its November 5 release.

The project is executive produced by Project Hail Mary author Andy Weir and written by The Ninth Metal novelist Benjamin Percy. I spoke exclusively with Weir and Percy about Exoplanet’s massive production and how the story presents a unique spin on outer space thrillers, which is teased on the cover.

“Well, you see right there the first hint of three different timelines,” Percy says. “There's the staggered foreground, middle distance, and far distance [with] astronauts spiraling into this vortex. I hope that it sucks the reader in right away and gives them a hint of what's to come. I'm not going to say exactly what causes the splintering of time. That's a mystery that awaits you, but I think that there's this almost whirlpool current that's dragging you into that image. You see this image, you know exactly what you're in for.”

Exoplanet tells the story of what happens to a team of astronauts when their ship “is torn apart by a quantum anomaly, and each surviving crew member crash-lands in a different era on the same deadly exoplanet — hunted, alone, and running out of time. Chief Engineer Jeff Shaw (Anthony Mackie), aided by his virtual assistant (Ray Porter), must battle an unforgiving present, driven by one thing: getting home to his daughter. First Officer Becca Bang (Ariana DeBose) fights to survive a hostile alien past. Science Officer Logan Bowers (John Leguizamo) wakes in a machine-ruled future that shouldn't exist.”

“It is much more like making a movie or a show than it is like writing a book,” Weir says. “When you're writing a book, you're a dictator. You are in control of absolutely everything. But in a collaborative project like this, it's everyone. Ben gave a rough draft for Episode 1 of Exoplanet, and four producers hopped in. It's a very different form of creation than writing a book. And I would say it's very, very similar, if not identical, to making a movie because it's the same dynamic. You have a lot of people involved and frankly, a lot of money involved.”

Percy says that collaborating with Weir and the team at Audible was a chance to push his normal storytelling process into something new and exciting.

“Nobody wants to read Andy Weir karaoke,” Percy says. “I like to Trojan horse different genres together. So this is an Andy Weir space disaster that has the Trojan horse of time travel inside of it. That allowed me to honor Andy Weir's legacy because what I was thinking when I wrote this was like, ‘If I were Andy Weir, what is a crazy-ass sci-fi story I could tell?’”

Percy says Exoplanet’s jam-packed cast contributed more than just their voices.

“I refer to writing novels as an almost monastic experience,” Percy says. “And when you are working with actors, you have to understand that you're building together. So the script is a baseline, but when John Leguizamo comes in and starts reading and interpreting the text, you come to think about it flexibly and realize that through conversation with him over Zoom and through improvisation that you can make the storytelling even more powerful.”

Weir says he shares a similar collaborative process with actors, especially when it comes to the star of this year’s film adaptation of Project Hail Mary .

“Well,” Weir says. “I like to jokingly say that Ryan Gosling considered the script to be sort of a suggestion.”

Beyond movie star improvisations, Weir says his experience on blockbuster sets is in line with what he experienced while putting Exoplanet together.

“For Project Hail Mary, I was a full-on producer, making decisions, giving notes on the script,” Weir says. “I was there for the whole shoot. I was giving feedback on a take, asking the directors, ‘Hey, can you change this and that?’ And obviously, nobody had to do what I said, but people listened. So my experience on Exoplanet was very much the same as Project Hail Mary.”

Weir says Exoplanet is the first of multiple originals he’ll be producing for Audible and that his involvement goes far beyond simply giving a greenlight to concepts he likes.

“These stories are curated by me. If I like the idea, then I workshop it with [Audible and the writers]. I'm not just a passive observer. There's a lot of back and forth.”

As Exoplanet’s launch gets closer, Percy says he’s excited for listeners to experience the full scope of both the story and production.

“When you listen, there's a three-dimensionality to it,” Percy says. “You can hear something moving from one side of the room to another. Wear good headphones.” Exoplanet hits Audible November 5.

Michael is Global Head of Partnerships at IGNE, where he leads all 3rd party partnerships across games and entertainment studios, including for tentpole events lilke IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton