Alex Garland Drama Devs Receives Pilot Order at FX

Annihilation and Ex Machina mastermind Alex Garland’s drama series Devs is getting an FX pilot, as announced today by Eric Schrier and Nick Grad, Presidents of Original Programming for FX Networks and FX Productions. The pilot is currently without an air date.

Garland wrote the pilot, and will direct and executive produce. A press release offers the following synopsis: “In Devs, a young computer engineer, Lily, investigates the secretive development division of her employer, a cutting-edge tech company based in San Francisco, which she believes is behind the disappearance of her boyfriend.”

DNA TV and Scott Rudin Productions will also executive produce the project, re-teaming with Garland after partnering with the writer-director on his past two projects, Annihilation and Ex Machina. The former, which Garland adapted from Jeff VanderMeer’s eponymous novel, has been one of 2018’s most critically acclaimed films, currently boasting an impressive 87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes; the latter, released in 2015, holds an even more impressive 92 percent and was nominated for two Oscars (including a nod for Garland’s original screenplay), winning one for its visual effects. Both are thought-provoking, gripping works of science fiction, in whose footsteps we can only hope Devs follows—based on what little we know so far, it sounds as if the series will share far more thematic DNA with the tech-centric Ex Machina.

“Devs is a captivating series from Alex Garland, building on his track record of groundbreaking work that challenges our notion of humanity amid the seemingly boundless promise of technology,” said Schrier in a statement. “We’re all the more thrilled that Alex will direct and executive produce with our partners at DNA TV and Scott Rudin Productions.”

Devs was developed under Garland’s overall TV production deal with FX, which he signed last July. FX Productions will produce the pilot.

If Garland’s pilot is anywhere near as mesmerizing as his recent films, we are all in for a treat. The writer-director is unquestionably among the best sci-fi storytellers working today.