Hollywood’s respawned obsession with science fiction continues unabated, and now Shawn Levy is returning to Netflix with Somewhere Out There, an original sci-fi drama.

The project, snapped up by Netflix after what’s described as a competitive bidding war, comes from screenwriter Max Taxe and will see Levy directing and producing through his 21 Laps banner.

While the phrase “original sci-fi” would normally, and at best, inspire cautious optimism (Hollywood has too often confused vague existentialism for depth in recent years), this one at least possesses an intriguing emotional hook. The story reportedly follows a grieving father who sends a message into deep space after the death of his wife, only for something out there to answer back. Naturally, comparisons to Arrival have already begun circulating, which feels both inevitable and like it’s setting this project up for failure. Funnily enough, Levy was producer on Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning film.

For all his reputation as a mainstream crowd-pleaser — this is the man behind Free Guy, The Internship, and Deadpool & Wolverine — Levy has begun gravitating towards more emotional science fiction. The Adam Project was, after all, essentially a story about parental loss, while Stranger Things built an entire empire on traumatising adolescents.

No casting has been announced yet for Somewhere Out There, though reports suggest several major actors are already circling the lead role.

Whatever comes of this, there’s still something refreshing about seeing Netflix throw serious money behind a sci-fi concept that isn’t based on a toy line, nostalgic 1980s property, or aggressively expandable cinematic universe. Whether Somewhere Out There becomes the next Arrival or merely two hours of an A-lister crying prettily at the night sky remains to be seen.