Waitrose blasts off with The Gastronaut
By James Herring on Wednesday, February 4, 2026
AD of the day ★★★★★
Waitrose has launched The Gastronaut, a space-themed short that continues its move into cinematic storytelling, hot on the heels of its Keira Knightley-fronted festive hit, The Perfect Gift.
Created by Wonderhood Studios, the cinematic spot follows Michael, an astronaut longing for real food over lifeless space rations.
It’s funny, ridiculous, oddly moving, mouthwatering and a note-perfect pastiche of the genre.
With Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” heightening the drama, our hero, Michael, drifts through the bleakness of space choking down beige food pouches, tormented by flashbacks of roast dinners, wedding cheese, and prawn linguine. So he steals a spaceship, dodges debris, and crash-lands at Waitrose like a man possessed.
The ad marks the debut of Waitrose’s new brand platform, ‘the home of food lovers’, and zeroes in on the emotional pull of food and its place in people’s lives.
The theatrical sequel move builds on Waitrose’s Christmas campaign, a four-minute romcom that starred Knightley, courted Richard Curtis praise and rewrote the seasonal ad playbook with humour, heart and blockbuster ambition.
Jack Croft and Stacey Bird, Wonderhood Executive Creative Directors add: “This is an epic telling of a universal food lover insight; food is so much more than fuel. For food lovers, a life without the food they love most would be pretty bleak.”
The campaign is supported with cinematic-style posters and OOH.
“It brings to life the extraordinary lengths food lovers would go to for their favourite food, even travelling across space,” said Nathan Ansell, Chief Customer Officer at Waitrose.
Directed by Tom Speers through SMUGGLER, the campaign also features content creator @WhatWillyCook, whose prawn linguine recipe sparks Michael’s return.
The 90-second film will appear in cinema and high-impact OOH placements, with media from MG OMD, alongside a rebooted Your Week In Food newspaper, podcast updates and a new Food Lovers Club, reinforcing Waitrose’s new positioning across every customer touchpoint.
