Colman Domingo joins Natalie Portman in Noah Hawley sci-fi drama

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

One of my favorite actors on AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, and one of the few original stars whose character is still alive on the show at this point, is Colman Domingo, who plays Victor Strand. I have found Domingo's performance to be very impressive over the show's three and half seasons, so I'm glad to hear that he has landed a role in an interesting, high profile feature: a sci-fi drama in which he'll be acting alongside Natalie Portman, Dan Stevens, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, and Jeremiah Birkett.

The Fox Searchlight project doesn't currently have a title, but it was first announced as PALE BLUE DOT. Noah Hawley, creator of the Fargo and Legion TV shows, will be directing the film, working from a script by Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi.

The story centers on 

a married astronaut (Portman) who returns to Earth after a mission and begins an affair with a fellow astronaut (Hamm). She heads into a downward spiral as she loses her connection to her family — a condition that can afflict those who spend a long time in space — and when her lover beings another affair with an astronaut trainee (Beetz), the bottom drops out. 

Stevens is playing the husband of Portman's character. Domingo will be playing a NASA official, with Birkett as space station Commander Hank Underwood.

I'm totally down to watch Portman (who replaced the originally attached Reese Witherspoon) play an astronaut who loses her mind, especially with the awesome supporting cast Hawley has assembled around her.