Alexander Medawar Garland (born May 26, 1970) is an English novelist, screenwriter, movie producer and movie director, known chiefly for his explorations into the genres of Science Fiction and horror.
Garland started his career in the 1990s with the publication of his first novel, The Beach. He continued working as a novelist while beginning to work as a screenwriter in the early 2000s with his script for 28 Days Later. Continuing writing screenplays for films such as Sunshine and Dredd, Garland eventually landed his directorial debut with the 2014 film EX_MACHINA.
Since then, Garland has turned heads and generally received critical acclaim for his works. He continued writing and directing with additional films, 2018's Annihilation (which combines sci-fi and horror) and 2022's Men (which is a horror film outright), as well as the Mini Series Devs, which he created for FX/Hulu in 2020.
In 2024, following the announcement of his fourth film Civil War, Garland stated his intention to step back from directing for "the foreseeable future" to focus exclusively on writing after co-directing Warfare....until, that is, it was announced the following year that Garland would be writing and directing a film adaptation of Elden Ring.
Works Garland has been involved with
Movies
- 28 Days Later Series
- 28 Days Later (2002) - writer
- 28 Weeks Later (2007) - executive producer and uncredited writer
- 28 Years Later (2025) - writer
- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
- Sunshine (2007) - writer
- Never Let Me Go (2010) - writer and executive producer
- Dredd (2012) - writer and executive producer
- Big Game (2014) - executive producer
- EX_MACHINA (2014) - writer and directorial debut
- Annihilation (2018) - writer and director
- Men (2022) - writer and director
- Civil War (2024) - writer and director
- Warfare (2025) - co-writer and co-director with Ray Mendoza
- Elden Ring film adaptation (TBA) - writer and director
Series
- Devs (2020) - writer, director, executive producer and creator
Video Games
- Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010) - writer
- DmC: Devil May Cry (2013) - story supervisor
Other media
- Halo (2005) - unproduced script for a failed film adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved.