Alex Garland

Alexander Medawar Garland (26 May 1970) is an English author and filmmaker. He rose to prominence with his novel The Beach. He received praise for writing the Danny Boyle films 28 Days Later (2002) and its sequel, 28 Years Later (2025), and Sunshine (2007), as well as Never Let Me Go (2010) and Dredd (2012). In video games, he co-wrote Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010) and was a story supervisor on DmC: Devil May Cry (2013).

Garland made his directorial debut when he wrote and directed the sci-fi thriller Ex Machina (2014). The film earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and won three British Independent Film Awards, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best British Independent Film for the film. Garland subsequently directed the films Annihilation (2018), Men (2022), and Civil War (2024). He also co-directed the war film Warfare (2025) and wrote, directed and executive produced the FX miniseries Devs (2020).

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 and 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. It was developed into the 2000 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 such as The Day of the Triffids. The Resident Evil video game series also influenced 28 Days Later, with Garland crediting the first game for revitalising the zombie genre. Inspiration for the "Rage" virus came from real-world infections such as Ebola and filoviruses. D. B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote this during 2006 for a 2008 release, although the film was later canceled.

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 the 2014 novel by Jeff VanderMeer. Garland 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. Also in 2018, it was reported that Garland had written a fantasy film script titled The Toymaker's Secret, and centering around a toymaker whose creations come to life and co-exist with him peacefully until a young woman and her kid move in.

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 write the yet unnamed third film in the 28 Years Later trilogy, which will again be directed by Boyle and serve as the fifth overall instalment in the 28 Days Later film series.

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 the 2022 video game 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.

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. 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. 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 is 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 Year Title Director Writer Producer 2002 28 Days Later 2007 Sunshine 28 Weeks Later 2010 Never Let Me Go 2012 Dredd 2014 Ex Machina 2018 Annihilation 2022 Men 2024 Civil War 2025 Warfare 28 Years Later 2026 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple 2027 Stages 2028 Elden Ring

Miniseries Year TitleDirectorWriterExecutiveProducerCreator 2020 Devs

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

Other credits The Beach (2000), cartographer, based on his 1996 novel The Tesseract (2003), based on his 1998 novel Big Game (2014), executive producer

Theatre The Coma (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2006), based on his 2004 novel