In 202X, Kate Dibiasky, a doctoral candidate in astronomy at Michigan State University, makes a discovery that shakes the very foundations of modern science and global security. While poring over astronomical data, Kate identifies an unknown comet on a collision course with Earth. Her initial calculations reveal a startling reality: the comet, large enough to trigger a global extinction event, is headed straight for the planet, with an impact expected in roughly six months. Unsure of the magnitude of her findings, Kate seeks confirmation from her professor, Doctor Randall Mindy, who scrutinizes her data and verifies that the threat is real.
Soon after, NASA independently corroborates the discovery, prompting an urgent response from the scientific community. Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, the head of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, joins Kate and Dr. Mindy as they travel to Washington, D.C. to present their findings to the White House. However, when they arrive, their dire warning is met with unexpected indifference. President Janie Orlean, along with her Chief of Staff—who is also her son, Jason Orlean—display a lack of urgency and concern. Their apathetic response leaves the scientists frustrated and disillusioned, as the stakes could not be higher.
Determined to alert the public despite the administration’s inaction, Oglethorpe urges Kate and Mindy to leak their findings to the media. They secure a spot on The Daily Rip, a popular morning talk show known for its mix of hard news and entertainment. The show’s hosts, Jack Bremmer and Brie Evantee, initially treat the subject lightly, mocking the severity of the announcement. In a moment of exasperation, Kate loses her composure and launches into an impassioned rant about the imminent apocalypse before abruptly leaving the set. While Dr. Mindy garners sympathy and even public approval for his calm demeanor and photogenic presence, Kate’s outburst quickly turns her into the target of ridicule, spawning a slew of negative memes online.
Despite the gravity of the situation, the media largely overlooks the genuine threat posed by the comet. Compounding the problem is NASA Director Jocelyn Calder—an influential figure with close ties to President Orlean’s administration and a significant donor—who publicly dismisses the comet’s danger, citing her own lack of expertise in astronomy. The administration’s credibility takes another hit when a personal scandal erupts: President Orlean becomes embroiled in a sex scandal involving her Supreme Court nominee, Sheriff Conlon. In a desperate bid to deflect attention from the scandal, Orlean finally acknowledges the comet’s threat and announces an ambitious project to intercept and divert it using nuclear weapons.
Initial signs of hope emerge when the interception mission successfully launches. However, the project takes a dramatic turn when Peter Isherwell, the billionaire CEO of BASH Cellular and one of Orlean’s top donors, discovers that the comet contains trillions of dollars worth of rare-earth elements. Isherwell’s discovery shifts the focus of the administration: rather than deflecting the comet to save Earth, they decide to pursue its commercial exploitation. The White House quickly pivots, agreeing to a plan that would fragment the comet and harvest its valuable resources from the ocean—a scheme based on technology proposed by BASH that has yet to undergo rigorous peer review.
This decision sidelines Kate Dibiasky and Dr. Oglethorpe, both of whom have become steadfast advocates for taking the comet threat seriously. In a surprising move, President Orlean replaces Kate’s scientific voices with Dr. Mindy, appointing him as the new National Science Advisor. With the administration’s backing now firmly in favor of commercial exploitation, Mindy soon emerges as a prominent public figure championing the economic opportunities presented by the comet. His newfound position and favorable media portrayal further marginalize Kate, who finds herself increasingly isolated. Despite her attempts to mobilize public opposition to the administration’s plans, Kate’s efforts are thwarted by direct threats from Orlean’s office.
As the comet draws closer, global opinion becomes increasingly polarized. Some people genuinely fear that the comet will bring about the end of humanity, while others dismiss the warnings as mere alarmism. A third faction even embraces the commercial prospects, arguing that mining the shattered remains of the comet could create a new economic boom and thousands of jobs. In this climate of uncertainty and conflicting messages, public debate grows heated, and the truth becomes entangled in a web of political expediency and media sensationalism.
Meanwhile, personal lives begin to unravel. Kate returns to her Illinois home, only to find that her parents, already overwhelmed by the chaos of the news, force her to leave. Seeking solace in unexpected places, she forms a relationship with Yule, a young shoplifter she meets while working a retail job—a stark contrast to her former life in academia. Across the country, Dr. Mindy, whose personal life has long been complicated, faces turmoil of his own. His extramarital affair with Brie Evantee, one of the talk show hosts who once ridiculed him, becomes public fodder. When Mindy’s wife confronts him about his infidelity, she departs from him, leaving him isolated and questioning the validity of Isherwell’s technology and the wisdom of the administration’s choices.
As the comet becomes increasingly visible in the sky, a palpable sense of dread begins to grip the public. In a bid to reclaim control over the narrative, Mindy, Kate, and Oglethorpe launch a social media protest campaign with the simple yet powerful slogan “Just Look Up.” Their campaign calls on citizens worldwide to demand that governments take immediate action to intercept the comet. In a dramatic counter-move, President Orlean initiates an anti-campaign instructing the public to “Don’t Look Up,” a message designed to placate a fearful populace and maintain the status quo. Orlean and Isherwell also take drastic steps to consolidate their control over the comet’s future, excluding major nations such as Russia, India, and China from the lucrative mining contract. These countries, in response, prepare their own joint deflection mission, only for their spacecraft to tragically explode shortly after launch.
As the comet looms ever larger in the sky, the cracks in Orlean’s administration begin to show. Supporters of the government start questioning its competence and motives, and public opinion shifts decisively against the commercial exploitation plan. In the ensuing chaos, BASH’s poorly executed attempt at breaking the comet apart fails catastrophically, and the grim reality of humanity’s impending doom becomes undeniable.
In a desperate bid for survival, Isherwell, President Orlean, and several other elite figures retreat from the collapsing government infrastructure. They board a sleeper spaceship—an experimental vessel designed to seek out a new, Earth-like planet—leaving behind the rest of humanity. In an unexpected twist, Jason Orlean, the president’s son and former Chief of Staff, is inadvertently left behind in the rush. As the sleeper ship departs, Orlean offers Dr. Mindy two places on board, but Mindy, now disillusioned with the political machinations that led to the crisis, chooses to remain on Earth. Determined to spend his final moments with his friends and family, Mindy declines the offer, accepting that his fate is inseparably tied to the planet he helped condemn.
The comet’s impact ultimately occurs off the coast of Chile, unleashing a cataclysmic chain reaction that devastates the planet. The resulting extinction-level event brings about a global disaster, wiping out billions of lives and forever altering the course of Earth’s history. In a mid-credits scene, the 2,000 souls who managed to escape Earth aboard the sleeper spaceship awaken 22,740 years later on a lush, alien planet. Emerging from suspended animation, they step out of their vessel into a new world, only to be confronted by unexpected dangers. In a dramatic moment, President Orlean—one of the few high-ranking officials to have escaped Earth—meets a violent end when a pack of bird-like predators, whose presence had been ominously predicted by BASH’s algorithms, ambush her on the alien surface.
In a haunting post-credits scene back on Earth, it is revealed that Jason Orlean has managed to survive the catastrophic impact. Alone amidst the ruins, he records a chilling message, declaring himself the “last man on Earth” and pleading with any remaining survivors to “like and subscribe,” a final, desperate grasp at connection in a desolate world.
