The project previously had Ava DuVernay attached to direct with Lupita Nyong'o to star (Nyong'o also is no longer attached).

The Amblin project is being produced by Frank Marshall, Big Beach's Peter Saraf and Trevorrow. Connolly and Big Beach's Marc Turtletaub are executive producing.

"Rebecca beautifully captured the alienation we often feel amongst our fellow humans in her first feature. We can’t wait to see her explore those themes further in a story about our place in the universe," said a statement from Trevorrow and Marshall.

Thomas made her feature debut with the 2012 indie Electrick Children, and she has been poised for a breakthrough since she nabbed the gig to direct a live-action retelling of The Little Mermaid for Universal, as well as adapting the John Green book Looking for Alaska for Paramount. Both are still in development.

Thomas, who is repped by CAA, Circle of Confusion and attornies Bruce Gellman and Hanson Jacobson, recently signed on to helm another sci-fi project, Malignant at Fox. She also is one of only two people outside the Duffer brothers and Shawn Levy to direct an episode of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the other being Wall-E director Andrew Stanton.