The Leatherman Surge multitool has become an unexpected co-star in Project Hail Mary, the 2026 space survival film starring Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a resourceful astronaut who relies on the tool to stay alive. The choice feels inevitable once you understand what the Surge is built to do and why it matters in a story about improvisation under extreme pressure.
Key Takeaways
- Ryan Gosling’s character Ryland Grace uses the Leatherman Surge multitool throughout Project Hail Mary to survive in space.
- Leatherman sent multiple models to the film’s props department, who selected the Surge independently without studio mandate.
- The Surge’s one-handed blade deployment is harder with gloves than the Leatherman Arc, which has a thumb stud.
- Project Hail Mary opened at No. 1 with 96% positive audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes after its March 20, 2026 release.
- The original Andy Weir novel mentions a multitool generically but specifies no make or model.
Why the Leatherman Surge multitool makes sense for this character
Ryland Grace is not a trained spacewalker with NASA protocols memorized. He is a scientist thrown into survival mode, forced to improvise with whatever tools he has access to. The Leatherman Surge multitool fits that narrative because it is built for people who need to fix things without a specialized workshop. In the film, Gosling’s character deploys the Surge’s blade one-handed while wearing bulky gloves—a practical detail that highlights both the tool’s utility and its limitations. The Surge has to work in conditions where precision is difficult and mistakes are expensive.
The filmmakers did not choose the Surge because it was the most famous multitool or because Leatherman paid for placement. Leatherman sent multiple tool models to the props department, and the team selected the Surge independently. That decision reflects genuine thought about what an astronaut character would actually reach for when facing a problem in space. The Surge is versatile enough to handle cutting, prying, and fastening tasks—the core functions any survivor needs.
How the Leatherman Surge compares to other Leatherman models
The Leatherman Surge multitool is not the easiest tool to deploy in every situation. The Leatherman Arc, for instance, features a thumb stud on its blade that makes one-handed opening simpler, especially when wearing gloves. For an astronaut in a pressurized suit, that thumb stud could be the difference between managing a task quickly and struggling with awkward hand angles. Yet the props team chose the Surge anyway, suggesting they valued its overall feature set and versatility over ergonomic convenience in a single scenario.
Leatherman also created a limited-edition Garage Batch #005 tool, a custom Arc variant with white cerakoted handles and a bronze-coated Magnacut blade, celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary. This tool appears in the film, but used by a different character—not Ryland Grace. That distinction shows how carefully the filmmakers matched tools to character needs rather than treating all Leatherman products as interchangeable.
The film’s success spotlights an overlooked detail
Project Hail Mary hit theaters on March 20, 2026, and opened at No. 1 at the box office with a 96% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes after its first weekend. That success means millions of viewers have now seen the Leatherman Surge multitool in action, even if they did not consciously register it as a product choice. The film, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, treats the tool as a practical element of survival, not as a gadget moment or a hero shot.
Andy Weir’s original 2021 novel mentions a multitool multiple times, but the author never specifies a make, model, or brand. Weir praised Gosling’s performance for adding depth that the book lacked. In an interview, Weir noted: Ryan added so much depth and layers to Ryland that I never had in the book. And I was so happy about that because I consider character depth to be one of my biggest weaknesses as an author. The choice to use a real, named tool—the Leatherman Surge—is part of that grounding in practical reality.
What makes a multitool credible in a survival story
Survival fiction works best when the gear feels real and purposeful. A generic tool or a made-up product pulls viewers out of the story. The Leatherman Surge multitool is a product that exists, that people actually buy and trust, and that has a 25-year warranty backing it. Using a real tool in a film about an astronaut fighting to stay alive signals to the audience that the filmmakers did their homework. They did not invent a fictional gadget with magical properties. They chose something that would actually help someone solve problems under pressure.
The Surge’s presence in Project Hail Mary matters because it represents a kind of filmmaking detail that most audiences will never consciously notice but will feel in the overall texture of the story. When Ryland Grace reaches for his multitool, viewers accept it as a logical choice because the tool is real, versatile, and built for exactly this kind of improvised problem-solving.
Does the Leatherman Surge work better in space than other tools?
The Surge is not specifically designed for space—no consumer multitool is. What matters is that it handles the fundamental tasks any survivor needs: cutting, prying, fastening, and adjusting. In the film, Gosling’s character uses the Surge to address problems that require a versatile tool rather than a single-purpose device. The choice reflects practical thinking about what an astronaut with limited resources would actually use.
Is the Leatherman Surge the same tool mentioned in Andy Weir’s original novel?
No. Weir’s 2021 novel mentions a multitool generically but does not specify a make, model, or brand. The filmmakers selected the Leatherman Surge independently as part of their adaptation choices. This is typical for film adaptations—the book provides the narrative foundation, but the production team makes decisions about how to visualize and realize that narrative in live-action form.
Why did the filmmakers choose Leatherman over other multitool brands?
Leatherman sent multiple tool models to the props department, and the team selected the Surge independently based on what they believed fit the character’s needs. The decision was not driven by sponsorship or brand preference but by the practical requirements of portraying an astronaut who needs to solve problems with limited resources. The Surge’s feature set and overall design aligned with what the filmmakers envisioned for Ryland Grace’s survival toolkit.
Project Hail Mary’s success at the box office and with audiences has turned the Leatherman Surge multitool into an unexpected piece of film trivia. It is a reminder that the smallest details—the tools a character reaches for, the gear they rely on—can matter as much as the plot itself. When a film gets those details right, the story feels more real, more urgent, and more worth believing. The Surge does not save the day in Project Hail Mary because it is magic. It saves the day because it is exactly what an improvising astronaut would actually use.
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Edited by the All Things Geek team.
Source: T3
