Irish actress and BAFTA winner Aisling Bea has joined the cast of Starman, a cosmic sci-fi thriller now filming in Australia, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bea, 42, plays Julia Hanley, a defiant and magnetic Irish photographer. She joins a cast led by Oscar winner Brendan Fraser and two-time Emmy winner Jeff Daniels. Fraser plays Tom Adams, an architect of the future who launches a historic expedition to Mars. Daniels plays Ed Watkins, the protective and powerful co-leader of a transformational company he built alongside Tom (Deadline).

Josh Wakely directs from his original screenplay. Wakely, an Emmy winner best known for the animated series Beat Bugs, first landed Fraser on the project in May 2026, when Deadline reported the casting exclusively. Daniels came aboard the following month.

Production is underway in Sydney, Inside Film confirmed in late July. The shoot is supported by the NSW Government through Screen NSW's Made in NSW Fund, a state-level production incentive designed to attract large-scale film and television projects to New South Wales.

Starman is a Grace: A Storytelling Company production, produced by Eddie Vaisman of Sight Unseen, Josh Wakely, and Rebecca Graham of Grace: A Storytelling Company. It is financed by Tarek Sherif, Ryan Graves and Matt Tedder, who also serve as executive producers alongside David S. Goyer, Matt Tedder and Julia Lebedev.

Anton, the London-based sales and financing outfit, is handling international sales — the business of selling distribution rights in territories outside the producing countries — after launching the project at the Marché du Film, the film market that runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival.

For Bea, the role marks another step in a career that moves freely between stage and screen. She created, wrote, produced and starred in the comedy series This Way Up, which earned her a BAFTA TV Craft Award for Breakthrough Talent. Her recent credits include the folk-horror comedy Get Away, opposite Nick Frost, as well as Greatest Days, Love Wedding Repeat and Home Sweet Home Alone. She recently completed a sold-out UK and Ireland stand-up tour, Older Than Jesus, and will next be seen in Netflix's adaptation of Marian Keyes' novel Grown Ups. Bea is represented by CAA and UK-based Independent Talent.

The project brings together an independent financing structure — private capital backing a single film rather than studio development money — with established Hollywood talent and Australian production infrastructure. No domestic distributor or release date has been announced.