‘The Midnight Sky’ Trailer: George Clooney Goes Full ‘Revenant’ in Netflix Drama

George Clooney returns to the director’s chair in The Midnight Sky, Netflix’s forthcoming post-apocalyptic drama. Based on Lily Brooks-Dalton’s acclaimed novel Good Morning, Midnight, the feature film stars Clooney as an isolated scientist who attempts to stop a space shuttle from landing on Earth amid a global catastrophe.

Netflix’s The Midnight Sky trailer splits its time between the remote Arctic wilderness and space, but each environment has its challenges. On land, Clooney’s Augustine, a scientist stationed at an observatory in the remote Arctic wilderness, scrambles to make contact with the crew aboard the Ether, a shuttle orbiting the earth. “Is anyone out there?” asks the bearded researcher, the desperation in his voice becoming palpable.

Thousands of miles aboveground, the astronauts — a group that includes Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir, and Tiffany Boone — attempt to contact Mission Control, to no avail. “We’re not receiving anything,” says Sully (Jones), after another fruitless attempt at establishing a line of communication. “That puts our last contact with mission control at…?” asks Oyelowo’s character. “Three weeks,” replies Sully. Clearly, the situation out in space is becoming dire.

Clooney spends the bulk of The Midnight Sky trailer explaining exactly what went wrong to a young girl (his daughter, perhaps?). “That’s Ether. It’s a space ship that we hoped would be our future,” he says. “I have to warn them about the conditions on Earth.” He adds that the global catastrophe “started with a mistake” before quickly spiraling out of control, and now, their only hope is to alert the astronauts that they must find a livable environment for humanity somewhere else in the galaxy.

Of course, as this is a high-stakes prestige drama, doing so threatens Augustine’s own humanity, as well as that of the astronauts. “You want to be an explorer. But while you’re doing all that, your own life is just slipping away,” says a mysterious female character in what seems to be a flashback. “That’s why I have to contact them,” replies Clooney. Ominous!

The Midnight Sky premieres December 23 on Netflix. Watch the official trailer above.