Netflix has released the full trailer for George Clooney’s new movie The Midnight Sky. Clooney stars as a lonely scientist at an Arctic research station trying to warn off a crew of astronauts that the Earth has been ruined by a mysterious global catastrophe, and humanity’s last hope is with those astronauts looking elsewhere to start humanity anew.

After Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Good Night, and Good Luck., I used to be really excited for Clooney’s directorial efforts, but his last couple films—The Monuments Men and Suburbicon—have been misfires. And yet with Clooney off screen lately as both a director and an actor, I’ve missed his presence and what he brings to movies (admittedly I never saw his Hulu series Catch-22). The Midnight Sky looks incredibly bleak, but also kind of honest and refreshing in a way that we might really need come this December. Perhaps people will be in no mood for a post-apocalyptic drama, but I’m still eager to see what Clooney does, especially when he has such a terrific cast of co-stars. Here’s hoping that The Midnight Sky is a bounce-back project for Clooney as a director.

Check out The Midnight Sky trailer below. The film arrives on Netflix on December 23rd and also stars Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir, Kyle Chandler, and Caoilinn Springall.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Midnight Sky:

Our humanity always endures.

 

This post-apocalyptic tale follows Augustine (George Clooney), a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully (Felicity Jones) and her fellow astronauts from returning home to Earth, where a mysterious global catastrophe has taken place.  Clooney directs the adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton’s acclaimed novel Good Morning, Midnight, co-starring David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir and Tiffany Boone.  Coming to Netflix December 23rd.