Alex Garland

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. 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 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 holiday 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.

• Title — Rotten Tomatoes — Metacritic • Ex Machina — 92% (284 ratings) — 78 (42 reviews) • Annihilation — 88% (327 ratings) — 79 (51 reviews) • Devs — 82% (90 ratings) — 71 (32 reviews) • Men — 69% (255 ratings) — 65 (55 reviews) • Civil War — 81% (391 ratings) — 75 (60 reviews) • Warfare — 93% (223 ratings) — 77 (16 reviews)

• Year — Film — Award — Category — Result • 2002 — 28 Days Later — Fangoria Chainsaw Awards — Best Screenplay • Hugo Awards — Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form • Saturn Award — Best Writing • 2010 — Never Let Me Go — British Independent Film Awards — Best Screenplay • Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Screenplay • Saturn Award — Best Writing • Enslaved: Odyssey to the West — Writers' Guild of Great Britain — Best Continuing Drama • 2015 — Ex Machina — Academy Awards — Best Original Screenplay • Alliance of Women Film Journalists — Best Writing, Original Screenplay • Austin Film Critics Association — Best Original Screenplay • AACTA International Awards — Best Screenplay • BAFTA Awards — Outstanding British Film • Best Original Screenplay • Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer • Boston Society of Film Critics Awards — Best New Filmmaker • British Independent Film Awards — Best British Independent Film • Best Director • Best Screenplay • Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards — Best Screenplay • Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Most Promising Filmmaker • Best Original Screenplay • Directors Guild of America Award — Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film • European Film Awards — Best European Screenwriter • Florida Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Screenplay • Gérardmer Film Festival — Jury Prize • Imagine Film Festival — Silver Scream Award| Silver Scream Award • London Critics Circle Film Awards — Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker • Online Film Critics Society Awards — Best Original Screenplay • San Diego Film Critics Society — Best Original Screenplay • San Francisco Film Critics Circle — Best Original Screenplay • Toronto Film Critics Association Awards — Best First Feature • Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards — Best Director • Best Original Screenplay • Saturn Awards — Best Director • Best Writing • 2025 — Civil War — Writers Guild of America Awards — Best Original Screenplay • Warfare — Taormina Film Festival — Premio Migliore Regia (Best Director Award) (with Ray Mendoza) • 2026 — 28 Years Later — BAFTA Awards — Outstanding British Film