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It looked like Ryan Gosling and The Daniels were about to set Hollywood ablaze with their new sci-fi team-up but no, that isn’t happening any more. The project was moving fast at Universal, the movie already had a release date, and Gosling’s involvement made it feel like one of those instant must-watch packages but, in a pretty sudden turn, Gosling has officially exited the untitled film from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
Deadline reports that Gosling is no longer set to star in Universal’s secret Daniels project after the two sides couldn’t make the timing work. When Deadline first broke the casting talks, the film was already lined up to shoot in Los Angeles this summer after landing a California tax credit. According to the new report, the production couldn’t move off that target date, and scheduling issues ultimately stopped the deal from closing.
While no exact reason was publicly given, the timing isn’t hard to understand. Gosling is coming off the huge theatrical run of Project Hail Mary, which has now passed $300 million worldwide after opening on March 20, and he’s spent the past several weeks helping lead a major promotional campaign for the film. Add that to the long shoot on Star Wars: Starfighter, which wrapped at the tail end of last year, and it starts to make sense why finding enough downtime before another summer production may have become difficult.
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Has The Daniels’ New Movie Been Cancelled?
The good news for Universal is that the movie itself doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Deadline says the studio and The Daniels are still on track to hit their targeted production dates, even without Gosling. And because he was reportedly very high on the script, the role is expected to attract plenty of interest from other actors now that it’s open again. Plot details are still being kept completely under wraps. So it’s a good situation in a sense that, although he can’t do it, it’s clear he wanted to do it.
Behind the camera, the project still has a lot going for it. Kwan, Scheinert, and Jonathan Wang are producing through Playgrounds under their overall deal with Universal, and the movie is already set for release on November 19, 2027. That means the studio clearly still sees this as a major event title, even after losing a star as big as Gosling this early in the process.
There’s also a bigger career angle here for Gosling. Between Project Hail Mary becoming one of 2026’s biggest hits and Star Wars: Starfighter already on the horizon for May 28, 2027, he’s hardly disappearing. If anything, this looks more like a timing casualty than a creative breakup. Still, it’s a disappointing one, because Gosling teaming with The Daniels on an original sci-fi movie felt like exactly the kind of weird, ambitious studio swing people want more of.
Release Date
March 15, 2026
Runtime
157 minutes
Director
Christopher Miller
Writers
Drew Goddard, Andy Weir
Producers
Patricia Whitcher, Ryan Gosling, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Drew Goddard, Sarah Esberg, Ken Kao, Aditya Sood, Will Allegra, Rachel O’Connor, Nikki Baida