Alex Garland

Early life and education

Alexander Medawar Garland was born in London on 26 May 1970, the son of psychologist Caroline (née Medawar) and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland. Alexander has a younger brother and two older paternal half-siblings. He is the maternal grandson of writer Jean Medawar and Nobel Prize-winning biologist Peter Medawar. Garland was educated at University College School in Hampstead, England and later graduated from the University of Manchester in Manchester with an art history degree.

Career

Novels

Garland's first novel, The Beach, was published in 1996. Based on his travels across Europe and Thailand, it tells the story of a young English backpacker who discovers an unspoiled seashore occupied by a community of like-minded backpackers. The novel is noted for its references to drug culture, sequences of hallucinations, and unique depictions of excess and utopia. The Beach was initially met with positive reviews, and with a spreading word of mouth response, the novel grew in popularity; it led some critics to regard Garland a key voice of Generation X. He would later speak of his discomfort with the fame The Beach brought him. The Beach has been translated into 25 different languages and sold close to 700,000 copies by the start of 1999. It was developed into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2003, the novel was Ranked 103 in BBC's The Big Read poll.

Garland's The Tesseract (1998) is a non-linear narrative with several interwoven characters, set in Manila, Philippines. The novel is characterized by a post-modernist narrative style and structure. It explores several themes such as love and violence through each character's circumstance and context of surroundings as well as seemingly inconsequential actions and the repercussions of those actions on other characters. The Tesseract was not a critical or commercial success, but it too was adapted into a film. Throughout his work, Garland has expressed his love of travel (particularly backpacking) and his love of Manila, much of which influenced his work.

Film

In 2002, Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's film 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy. He has said that the script was influenced by 1970s zombie films and English science fiction like The Day of the Triffids. The Resident Evil series also served as an influence for 28 Days Later, with Garland crediting the first game for revitalizing the zombie genre. Inspiration for the "Rage" virus came from real-world infections such as Ebola and filoviruses. He won a Best Screenplay honor at the 2004 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his script of the film.

In 2005, Garland wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation of Halo. D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote this during 2006 for a 2008 release, although the film was later canceled. In 2007, he wrote the screenplay for the film Sunshine, which was his second screenplay to be directed by Danny Boyle and to star Cillian Murphy. Garland served as an executive producer on 28 Weeks Later, the sequel of 28 Days Later. He wrote the screenplay for the 2010 film Never Let Me Go, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. He also wrote the script for Dredd, an adaptation of the Judge Dredd comic book series from 2000 AD. In 2018, Karl Urban, who played the eponymous role in the film, stated that it was Garland who deserved credit for also directing Dredd.

Garland made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a 2014 feature film based on his own story and screenplay, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac. The film won a Jury Prize at the 2015 Gerardmer Film Festival, and earned Garland a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Garland's second film, Annihilation (2018), was based on Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 science fiction novel of the same name. Garland has described it as "an adaptation [that] was a memory of the book," rather than book-referenced screenwriting, to capture the "dream like nature" and tone of his reading experience. Production began in 2016, and the film was released in February 2018.

In January 2021, Garland was hired to direct his third film, Men, starring Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear. The film follows a young woman who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband. Released in May 2022, it received generally positive reviews, though its narrative approach received some criticism. Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum placed Men on his Best Films of 2022 list.

In April 2022, it was announced that Garland would once again work with A24 for his fourth feature, Civil War, an action epic starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and previous collaborators Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny. The film was released on 12 April 2024. Garland reunited with Boyle to write 28 Years Later, the long-gestating sequel to 28 Days Later, which was the first of an ongoing trilogy of zombie films. The film was released by Sony on 20 June 2025. Its sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which Garland returned to write, was released on 13 January 2026, and was directed by Nia DaCosta. Garland is slated to also write the third yet unnamed third member of the 28 Years Later trilogy.

In February 2024, it was revealed that Charles Melton was in talks to star in Garland's upcoming untitled war film with A24. This project marks the second collaboration between Garland and Ray Mendoza, who served as the military supervisor for Civil War. The pair wrote and co-directed the film. The following month, Joseph Quinn, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter and Finn Bennett joined the ensemble cast, and the film was revealed to be titled Warfare. The same month, Garland stated that he would not direct any films in the "foreseeable future" after the release of Civil War and that his co-directorial work on Warfare was "more of a supporting character" to Mendoza's. However, in May 2025, it was announced that Garland's next project would be a film adaptation of Elden Ring.

Television

Garland wrote, served as executive producer, and directed the eight-episode miniseries Devs about the "mysterious ongoings at a tech company", for FX. The series was greenlit in August 2018, and premiered 5 March 2020 on FX on Hulu. It stars Ex Machina and Annihilation actress Sonoya Mizuno, alongside Nick Offerman, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, and Alison Pill. Spaeny, who did not audition for the role as Garland had wanted her specifically for it said that Devs was short for Development, and the series would explore the idea of the multiverse.

In May 2022, a television series based on Never Let Me Go was optioned at FX, to be executive produced by Garland, who previously wrote the screenplay for the 2010 film adaptation of the same name. It would have premiered on Hulu in the United States, Star in other territories and Star+ in Latin America with Viola Prettejohn, Tracey Ullman and Kelly Macdonald starring. However, in February 2023, it was announced that FX had cancelled the series before production began.

Video games

Garland and Tameem Antoniades co-wrote the video game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. They won a 2011 award from the Writer's Guild of Great Britain. Garland also served as a story supervisor on the game DmC: Devil May Cry in 2013.

Personal life

Garland is married to English-Mexican actress Paloma Baeza, with whom he has a son and a daughter. He has described himself as being an atheist. Garland has described himself as politically left, but has expressed concern over increasing political polarisation, particularly in America. He cited this concern as a core inspiration for his film Civil War.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010), co-writer
• DmC: Devil May Cry (2013), story supervisor

Other credits

• The Beach (2000), cartographer, based on his novel of the same name
• The Tesseract (2003), based on his novel of the same name
• Big Game (2014), executive producer

Theatre

• The Coma (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2006), based on his novel of the same name

Bibliography

• The Beach (1996)
• The Tesseract (1998)
• The Coma (2004)

Critical reception

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

References

1. (March 2024). "People of Today 2017". [[Debrett's]].
2. (n.d.). "Alex Garland". [[British Council]].
3. Lovece, Frank. (20 February 2018). "Unnatural Resource: Alex Garland and Natalie Portman probe the mysteries of 'Annihilation'". [[Film Journal International]].
4. Bhattacharji, Alex. (15 February 2018). "The Visionary Director of 'Ex Machina' Addresses the Controversy Surrounding His New Film". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
5. (8 February 2018). "'Annihilation' director Alex Garland chats with CNET about the upcoming film". [[CNET]].
6. (1 February 2000). "The Beach". Brilliance Corp.
7. Stewart, Rod. (7 January 2000). "Alex Hamilton's paperback fastsellers of 1999". The Bookseller.
8. "The Big Read - Top 200 Books". [[BBC]].
9. Garland, Alex. "Hip author Alex Garland talks about The Beach". Gluckman.com.
10. Scott, A. O.. (27 June 2003). "Film Review; Spared by a Virus But Not by Mankind". [[The New York Times]].
11. (6 November 2014). "'Something in the blood' {{!}} 28 Days Later... (2002)". Fiction Machine.
12. Garland, Alex. (10 April 2015). "INTERVIEW: Director Alex Garland on Ex Machina". HuffPost.
13. (3 February 2005). "Halo, Hollywood, Microsoft readies video game for first pic".
14. Miller, Ross. (14 July 2006). "DB Weiss takes on Halo script".
15. Fritz, Ben. (31 October 2006). "No home for 'Halo' pic".
16. Shirey, Paul. (7 March 2018). "EXC: Karl Urban Says Alex Garland Directed Dredd & Updates on Reprising Role". JoBlo.com.
17. (8 February 2018). "'Annihilation' director Alex Garland chats with CNET about the upcoming film". [[CNET]].
18. (10 February 2018). "ANNIHILATION (2018) - Alex Garland Behind the Scenes Interview - The Media Hub this week". The Media Hub.
19. (22 February 2018). "Alex Garland 'Annihilation' - Talks at Google". [[Talks at Google]].
20. Kroll, Justin. (29 April 2016). "'Containment' Star Joins Natalie Portman in 'Annihilation'". Variety.
21. (30 March 2016). "Oscar Isaac Re-unites with Ex Machina Director to Join the All-Female Cast of Annihilation".
22. "Men - Movie Reviews".
23. Kroll, Justin. (6 January 2021). "Alex Garland Sets Next Film at A24 With Jessie Buckley And Rory Kinnear To Star".
24. Rosenbaum, Jonathan. (2 January 2023). "La Internacional Cinéfila Poll: Jonathan Rosenbaum: Best Films of 2022".
25. Grobat, Matt. (21 January 2022). "Alex Garland Reteams With A24 For Action Epic 'Civil War'; Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura & More Set To Star".
26. Grobat, Matt. (31 January 2024). "Zombie Sequel ''28 Years Later'' Lands at Sony (Exclusive)".
27. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/30/alex-garland-civil-war-interview
28. Kroll, Justin. (6 February 2024). "Charles Melton in Talks to Join Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland's Untitled War Film at A24". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
29. Cordero, Rosy. (28 March 2024). "Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter & Finn Bennett Round Out Lead Cast Of Ray Mendoza And Alex Garland's 'Warfare'". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
30. Kaloi, Stephanie. (31 March 2024). "'Civil War' Director Alex Garland Says He's Done Directing".
31. Galuppo, Mia. (22 May 2025). "'Elden Ring' Movie in the Works From 'Civil War' Director Alex Garland, A24".
32. (3 August 2018). "Alex Garland's Sci-Fi Murder-Mystery Series 'Devs' Greenlit at FX, With Nick Offerman and Sonoya Mizuno to Star". Indiewire.
33. (26 July 2019). "Cailee Spaeny on What to Expect From Alex Garland's New Show, Devs". Indiewire.
34. (9 May 2022). "'Never Let Me Go' Series in Development at FX".
35. Porter, Rick. (25 October 2022). "'Never Let Me Go' Drama Lands FX/Hulu Series Order".
36. Otterson, Joe. (2 February 2023). "'Never Let Me Go' Series Not Moving Forward at FX".
37. Lewis, Tim. (11 January 2015). "Alex Garland on Ex Machina: 'I feel more attached to this film than to anything before'". [[The Guardian]].
38. Patches, Matt. (25 April 2015). "Books and Films That Inspired 'Ex Machina'".
39. GQ. (15 April 2025). "Alex Garland Breaks Down His Most Iconic Films".
40. Salisbury, Mark. "Home on the Rage". Starlog Group, Inc..
41. (7 March 2018). "Karl Urban Says Alex Garland Actually Directed 'Dredd'".
42. (11 October 2019). "Alex Garland Will Never Direct Another 'Dredd' Movie: 'It Was a Crude Experience'".
43. Bricker, Tierney. (11 February 2020). "20 Shocking Secrets About The Beach Revealed".
44. Rooney, David. (23 September 2003). "The Tesseract". [[Variety (magazine).
45. McBay, Nadine. (24 August 2006). "The Coma". [[Metro (British newspaper).
46. "Ex Machina (2014)".
47. "Ex Machina Reviews". [[Metacritic]].
48. "Annihilation (2018)".
49. "Annihilation Reviews". [[Metacritic]].
50. "Devs: Season 1 (2020)".
51. "Devs - TV Shows Reviews". [[Metacritic]].
52. "Men (2022)".
53. "Men Reviews". [[Metacritic]].
54. "Civil War". [[Fandango Media]].
55. "Civil War". [[Metacritic]].
56. "Warfare". [[Fandango Media]].
57. "Warfare". [[Metacritic]].