The 2014 Black List just came out this past week, running down the best unproduced screenplays of the year. There are a handful of promising science fiction entries, but while these screenplays are members of a pretty restricted club, the script for Ridley Scott’s upcoming genre joint The Martian has been somewhere even more exclusive, it’s actually been to space.

Earlier this month, when NASA launched their Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle on a its first test flight, the cover page for Drew Goddard’s script, complete with a drawing by the legendary director, went along for the ride, travelling 5600 miles above the surface of the Earth. That’s some seriously geeky cred.

Here in the States most of us are winding down a day spent eating too much, drinking too much, and likely experiencing more than a little family-related drama. Far be it from us here at GFR to play humbugs, so, as we’ve done in previous years, we sat down to ponder what science fiction developments we were most thankful for this year. So before you collapse back into a turkey-induced coma, take a moment to look back at the things that put the biggest smiles on our faces in 2014. And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Everything About Edge of Tomorrow
How is it that a movie involving an alien invasion and a weird form of time travel joined forces with polarizing megastar Tom Cruise and became one of the year’s most guiltlessly enjoyable movies? Whether the credit for the sci-fi magic goes to director Doug Liman, screenwriters Jez and John-Henry Butterworth and Christopher McQuarrie, or even Cruise and co-star Emily Blunt, the film’s sense of sheer fun and darkly comedic whimsy are undeniable.

Based on the Japanese novel All You Need Is Kill, Edge of Tomorrow could have easily crumbled beneath the weight of its time-looping narrative, but manages to steer clear of weary repetition. By sticking Cruise back into a learning recruit role instead of having him start the film as the almighty hero, Edge of Tomorrow gives its lead one of the weirdest character arcs in all of fiction, which can’t be derailed by the likes of co-stars Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson. By far the airiest, funniest, and most exciting blockbuster of the year, Edge of Tomorrow is arguably the only must-see tentpole film of the year for sci-fi fans. (That’s right, Godzilla and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I said it.) – Nick

With so many sci-fi films in production, there are a lot of roles to be cast, and a couple of high-profile projects have been adding to their already large ensembles. Just when you think the cast of Ridley Scott’s The Martian can’t get any more impressive, it adds a handful of new names. And next time around, The Maze Runner will feature more than one lone, underwritten female character, as the sequel Scorch Trials has added a Game of Thrones star in a key position.

EW reports that Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) and Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) are joining the massive cast of The Martian. Reportedly Scott’s next film, before he embarks on either Prometheus 2 or Blade Runner 2, the cast already includes damn near everyone in Hollywood. Those three alone would be a major casting coup, but they join the likes of Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Donald Glover, Michael Pena, Mackenzie Davis, and Jeff Daniels, who are already in place. It’s an embarrassment of riches over there, and it will be interesting to see how they make use of all of this talent.

British actor Sean Bean just joined Ridley Scott‘s The Martian, a thriller about a man who is trapped on Mars. It’s a good thing that Matt Damon is already playing the solitude-heavy lead character here, because we all know what would happen if Bean had taken the main part. It would have been a short film called Man Dies on Mars Before Being Saved. And that kind of a title doesn’t scream “box office success” at all, does it?

Bean is the latest in a relatively long line of actors to join the flick, making it even more of a must-see adventure when it comes out. There isn’t much to his character description though, as he’s only described as a NASA flight director. This doesn’t sound like he’ll be in the line of fire at any point, and I can vouch that Andy Weir’s spectacular novel doesn’t involve any NASA-set sword fights or anything, so maybe he’ll make it through this one alive.

When I first read Andy Weir’s sensational novel The Martian a couple of years ago, I never imagined it would eventually become a Ridley Scott film, boasting one of the best casts in recent memory. Two more impressive talents just got pulled in, as former Community star Donald Glover and Headhunters madman Aksel Hennie recently signed on. Say what you will about the quality of Scott’s movies, he always backs his A-listers with the best in the business.

For The Martian, Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, who is part of a NASA mission situated on Mars. Hennie plays one of his fellow astronauts, joined by Michael Peña, Kate Mara, and Jessica Chastain. There is a huge dust storm that causes major complications, and the bulk of the team has to immediately pack up and leave the planet. Unfortunately, Mark is assumed dead and he’s left behind. (That qualifies as a worst day ever for anyone, I’d think.) Luckily, Mark is like a MacGyver with a brain for science and technology, so he makes it his mission to survive. Chastain’s character leads the rescue mission to try and save Mark. Back on Earth, Jeff Daniels will serve as the director of NASA, and Mackenzie Davis and Glover will play NASA employees.

For fans of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian — which should really include all of you — the book’s trip from page to screen has been an exciting one. (It actually started out as a free read online, but that’s beside the point.) The project’s latest news sees A-list actresses Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live) in talks to take over the female leads, joining Matt Damon in what is set to be Ridley Scott’s next film.

Negotiations between the actresses and Fox are still in the early stages, so it’s not quite time to thank our lucky red planets just yet. According to Deadline, Chastain looks like she’ll be more likely to sign on than Wiig, though there’s no explanations provided for this assertion. There’s also no specificity as to what roles each actress would be filling, though we can make predictions.