Kate Mara Talks Returning to the World of Space Travel in Sci-Fi Thriller ‘The Astronaut’ After ‘The Martian’ Role (Exclusive)

Kate Mara’s return to space in her new sci-fi thriller The Astronaut is anything but all systems go.

Ahead of the film’s Oct. 17 theatrical release, Mara opened up to PopCulture.com about revisiting the world of space travel in a whole new way following her role in 2015’s The Martian.

While viewers met Mara’s astronaut character Beth Johanssen on an active space mission in The Martian, The Astronaut follows the actress as Sam Walker, an astronaut who is discovered alive after crash-landing back on Earth.

Placed under strict quarantine and NASA surveillance for rehabilitation and testing by General William Harris (Laurence Fishburne), Sam begins to fear that something extraterrestrial has followed her home when bizarre incidents escalate.

“When I read the script, I was so surprised by a lot of where the story goes,” Mara told PopCulture of the Jess Varley film, which premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. “So I was excited to be a part of that. I also thought it was an interesting [that] it’s kind of a few different genres in one. It’s just not what you expect. … It felt different than what I had done before.”

While The Astronaut isn’t Mara’s first time playing in the world of space exploration, she noted it was “very different” than her time on The Martian. “I had to research and learn about what it’s like coming home from a mission,” she explained. “The Martian, obviously, I’m on a mission. So they’re actually two very different worlds. It was completely new information that I learned on The Astronaut.”

In addition to reading research from Varley, Mara said she watched “endless astronaut interviews” about their experiences coming back to Earth “and what they go through physically and emotionally” in order to prepare for the role of Sam.

The feeling of “isolation” elicited in The Astronaut was one of the most “interesting” aspects of the film to play with, as Sam struggles with wanting to be validated by her husband (Gabriel Luna) about the odd experiences she’s having.

“It’s just a very human emotion to want to feel seen and acknowledged,” she told PopCulture. “I just think the element of isolation for her — that’s the theme of the film, as well as that was a fun thing to play with.”

Mara hopes that audiences who watch The Astronaut are “as surprised” as she was when she first read the script. “I think that’s the joy of going to the movies — sometimes you want to be scared, sometimes you want to be surprised or feel emotion … but I think with this, there’s so many twists and turns and not everything is as it seems. So I think that’s the fun here of this story and this sort of ride.”

The Astronaut premieres in theaters on Oct. 17.