Annihilation director Alex Garland is venturing into television with Devs, a tech thriller picked up for a pilot by FX. The pilot will be produced in collaboration with DNA TV and Scott Rudin Productions, who partnered with Garland on both Ex Machina and Annihilation. Garland wrote and plans to direct the pilot.
Deadline describes the show as a "tech thriller." Devs follows Lily, a computer engineer working at a company in the tech hub of San Francisco. Lily begins to investigate the disappearance of her boyfriend, believing her employer and their top-secret development division may be to blame.
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Eric Schrier, President of Original Programming for FX Networks and FX Productions, had this to say about the new show and Garland's vision: “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. We’re all the more thrilled that Alex will direct and executive produce with our partners at DNA TV and Scott Rudin Productions.”
Garland was nominated for an Oscar for his Ex Machina script. In Ex Machina, a promising young tech employee (Domhnall Gleeson) wins the chance to visit his eccentric boss' (Oscar Isaac) isolated home and be privy to the most secretive project his company is working on: a lifelike female robot practically indistinguishable from humans.
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Both Ex Machina and Annihilation — which stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Tuva Novotny — are well-received female-led sci-fi thrillers, lending goodwill toward Garland's latest project. Devs could also be a good response to the success of USA's anarchic tech thriller Mr. Robot.
The pilot is currently without an air date but is part of an overall television production deal Garland signed with FX in July.