The Eternaut Gives Netflix A Sci-Fi Alien Adaptation To Look Forward To
A comic book tale from nearly 70 years ago has finally found its way to the small screen thanks to an adaptation by Netflix. The teaser trailer released by the streaming service shows why the sci-fi classic The Eternaut is giving genre fans something truly remarkable to behold. And it marks what might be one of the most highly anticipated releases on Netflix for its 2025 schedule.
Though The Eternaut‘s trailer is scarcely 60 seconds long, it manages to generate both intrigue and terror as glimpses into the series begin to unfold on the screen.
See the Netflix Eternaut trailer and check out what we mean.
The first few moments show a man in protective gear standing along a snowy street, looking ahead toward what seems to be a menacing figure in his path.
The string-heavy cinematic score plays sharp notes over the next several scenes, where a group of young partiers are enjoying time drinking on a boat while a group of who might be government officials are observing something mysterious happening in the summer skies.
Both the college-age kids and the officials are shocked by white flakes coming down, not understanding why or how it could be snowing during summer temperatures. But it’s soon apparent that the “snow” is highly toxic and will instantly kill anyone it comes into the slightest contact with.
It blankets the streets and homes with layers of the stuff, as the camera pans over the dead bodies of unsuspecting citizens whose lives were cut short while they were in the middle of their daily routines.
The few scenes that depict the carnage in The Eternaut are a bit reminiscent of the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano near Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 C.E. Like those shown in the teaser trailer, the residents of the Italian villages were found dead in their tracks and left behind eerie traces of their normal behaviors that were abruptly halted by volcanic ash and poisonous gasses.
If The Eternaut stays true to the original, it will pit survivors against alien invaders as well as each other.
The Eternaut‘s original source material stem from a mid-century comic book series of the same name created by Argentinian journalist and graphic novelist Hector German Oesterheld.
Unlike many science fiction adaptations that have drawn from literature by the likes of H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and others, The Eternaut‘s original source material stem from a mid-century comic book series of the same name created by Argentinian journalist and graphic novelist Hector German Oesterheld.
The classic comic began as a serialized comic strip in 1957 and ran for two years. While Oesterheld generated the ideas and penned the words, the recognizable artwork was the contribution of Francisco Solano Lopez.The Eternaut soon found its way into the hands of eager readers in copies of comic anthology magazine Hora Cero, serving as one of the publication’s pioneer offerings.
After the comic ceased publication in 1959, Oesterheld attempted to revive his concept a decade later with artist Alberto Breccia. The political tone of the new version made Oesterheld a target of the Argentinian death squads and forced the creator to go into hiding in fear of his life.
Netflix first announced the production of The Eternaut in 2020. It’s exact release date has not been confirmed, but it is slated to be sometime in 2025.
