Natalie Portman’s new sci-fi movie is creating buzz since the news got out for one special reason. The Oscar winner starred in a similar sci-fi movie before, Annihilation (2018), which gained an impressive critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
According to Screen Rant, Natalie Portman is to bring Jeff VanderMeer’s short story, Constellation, to the big screen under her production company, MountainA. VanderMeer shared the news on BlueSky by saying,
“Also thrilled to announce that Natalie Portman is developing my short story ‘Constellations’ for film, thru her MountainA production company. I’m psyched at the prospect of her starring in it. ‘Constellations’ appeared in the MIT Technology Review earlier this year (see today’s pinned post for link).” [Source]
No director, creative team, or release date has been announced yet. It is speculated that Natalie Portman might star in the Constellations movie, but it could only be verified once final announcements are made by the studio.
Plot details of Constellations
Constellations was published in the MIT Technology Review this year, and its story centers on a group of people whose spaceship crashes on a remote planet. Fans have been calling Natalie Portman’s Constellations film adaptation a perfect sci-fi follow-up since Annihilation is widely regarded as a masterpiece in the genre and one of Portman’s defining films of its era.
Prospect of Natalie Portman starring in Constellations
The prospects of Portman starring in Jeff VanderMeer’s Constellations movie are exciting because she has given similar strong performances before that align with the themes and character-driven story of the film. Her previous VanderMeer story makes her a natural fit for another adaptation from the same author.
Portman is not new to sci-fi movies since, alongside Annihilation, she has starred in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Garden State (2004), V for Vendetta (2005), Black Swan (2010), Thor (2011), and Jackie (2016). Her performance in Black Swan earned her an Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and BAFTA.
In Constellations, she once again might be able to demonstrate the more intimate side of the protagonist. Instead of the environment being the primary source of fear, the protagonist’s own perception becomes the central puzzle.
How does Natalie Portman’s new sci-fi movie compare to Annihilation?
Annihilation tells the story of scientists who explore a quarantine spot called Area X, known as Shimmer in the movie. The place was formed after a meteor crash, where Portman’s character goes to find her husband. What occurred inside Shimmer has stayed in the minds of sci-fi fans for nearly a decade, as several questions were left unanswered that served as food for wonderment for the viewers.
Like Annihilation, Constellations appears to feature an unexplained scientific, cosmic mystery, leaning heavily into psychological horror rather than traditional monster scares, a protagonist whose reality bends with unreliability, and themes of identity, memory, and transformation are explored.
Both are based on novels by VanderMeer, blending psychological dread with self-destruction, grief, trauma, and transformation being the core themes. Strongly embedded is VanderMeer’s signature style of leaving room for ambiguity instead of providing straightforward answers.
The biggest difference is the scope of the story. While Annihilation follows a team venturing into a strange environment to uncover its secrets, Constellations’ adaptation is described as being far more personal and character-driven. Rather than centering on an expedition into an alien landscape, the story focuses on a single woman’s experience as an extraordinary event causes her to question reality, her memories, and even her own identity.
In other words:
- Annihilation asks: What is happening inside the Shimmer?
- Constellations asks: What is happening to the protagonist herself?
When is Constellations releasing?
While the film does not have an official release date at this time, more details are expected to emerge as development continues.
Passionate Entertainment Writer | Trusted Pop Culture Voice
Madiha Ali is an experienced entertainment writer with over five years of expertise in covering movies, TV shows, celebrity news, and pop culture. Her bylines appear on trusted platforms like The Rolling Tape, Screen Anarchy, High on Films, Ary News, The Express Tribune, Tea and Banter, Show Snob, CelebFeedz, Snapfeedz, Daily Planet Media, The Irish Insider, and Movie Insiderz.
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