Back to the Future and Contact director Robert Zemeckis looks to be returning to the science fiction genre with Warner Bros and the astronaut thriller called Ares, studio sources confirm.

The Oscar-winning director of Forrest Gump is in advanced negotiations to helm the sci-fi project that was set up in recent months at Warner Bros. Zemeckis would be working off the original script by Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who co-wrote Captain Marvel.

Ares follows an astronaut who survives his space capsule’s crash landing in an African desert but begins to suspect his mission was in service of a conspiracy that hides a a secret with world-changing ramifications.

Zemeckis will produce along with Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, his partners at ImageMovers. Also producing are Dan Lin & Jonathan Eirich through Rideback and Kristin Winkler. Roland Emmerich, who attempted to produce the project at MGM, will be executive producing through his Centropolis Entertainment shingle.