Alex Garland

Also known as Alexander Medawar Garland

Alex Garland is an English novelist, screenwriter and director whose films Ex Machina and Devs explore machine consciousness and determinism. After his 1996 novel The Beach, he wrote the Danny Boyle films 28 Days Later and Sunshine. His 2014 directorial debut, Ex Machina, grew out of his reading of Murray Shanahan's book on consciousness and set a programmer to test a humanoid robot named Ava; it earned him British Independent Film Awards for best director and screenplay and an Oscar nomination for its script. In 2020, his FX series Devs followed a Silicon Valley company whose secret unit works on a quantum computer. He is writing and directing an untitled A24 sci-fi film starring Zendaya, set to shoot in 2027, and his Elden Ring adaptation is due for release in March 2028.

Timeline

1970–1996

The Beach, a first novel

Born in London in 1970, he graduates from the University of Manchester with an art history degree. His first novel, The Beach, appears in 1996 and becomes a 2000 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
1998–2012

28 Days Later and Sunshine

He publishes The Tesseract in 1998 and the short novel The Coma in 2004. He writes Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later in 2002 and Sunshine in 2007, a script that grows out of a Scientific American article on the long-term future of the universe. Screenplays for Never Let Me Go in 2010 and Dredd in 2012 follow.
2014

Ex Machina, a directorial debut

He makes his directorial debut with Ex Machina in 2014, writing and directing a film in which a young programmer is chosen by his reclusive CEO to evaluate the consciousness of a humanoid robot named Ava. The idea forms while he works on Dredd and reads Embodiment and the Inner Life by Murray Shanahan, a professor of cognitive robotics at Imperial College London, and he sends Shanahan the script for vetting.
2015–2016

Awards for Ex Machina

In December 2015, Ex Machina wins four British Independent Film Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay for Garland. He wins the Directors Guild of America award for a first-time feature film director in February 2016. At the Academy Awards in February 2016, his script is nominated for Best Original Screenplay, and the film wins Best Visual Effects.
2018

Adapting Annihilation

His second film as director, Annihilation, adapts Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 novel. Production begins in 2016, and the film is released in February 2018.
2018–2020

Devs and a quantum computer

FX greenlights Devs in August 2018, and he writes, directs and executive-produces the eight-episode miniseries, which premieres on FX on Hulu in March 2020. The show follows Amaya, a Silicon Valley tech company whose secret Devs group works on a quantum computer able to create video images of the past and the future, and it grows from his long interest in determinism and free will. In March 2020, he discusses Ex Machina, Devs and artificial intelligence on Lex Fridman's podcast.
2022–2025

Men, Civil War and Warfare

He directs Men, released in May 2022, and Civil War, released in April 2024, both for A24. In 2025, he co-writes and co-directs the war film Warfare with Ray Mendoza and writes Danny Boyle's sequel to 28 Days Later, released in June 2025. A film of the 2022 video game Elden Ring is announced as his next project in May 2025.
October 2026

A sci-fi film with Zendaya

In October 2026, Zendaya signs on to star in his next film, an untitled sci-fi feature he writes and directs for A24, set to shoot in 2027. Elden Ring, his $100m video game adaptation for A24, has wrapped shooting and is set for release in March 2028.