Alex Garland’s Sci-Fi Murder-Mystery Series ‘Devs’ Greenlit at FX, With Nick Offerman and Sonoya Mizuno to Star
It’s official: Alex Garland is coming to television. FX announced Friday morning that the “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation” director’s first major small screen foray has been ordered for an eight-episode season. The limited series “Devs” is set to premiere in 2019.
The full cast for the series was also revealed, and there are some heavy-hitters in the mix. Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, and Alison Pill make up the impressive roster.
“Devs,” which FX ordered to pilot last March, feels like a spiritual sequel to “Ex Machina” in some respects, if only because of its focus on a mysterious tech company. The official description provided by FX reads as follows:
In ‘Devs,’ a young computer engineer, Lily Chan, investigates the secretive development division of her employer, a cutting-edge tech company based in San Francisco, who she believes are behind the murder of her boyfriend.
Mizuno plays Lily, the aforementioned engineer, while Offerman will play Forest, described as “the CEO of Amaya, whose obsession is the covert work of the company’s development division.”
“After reading all 8 scripts and hearing Alex’s brilliant vision and commitment to direct all of the episodes, it was an easy decision to order ‘Devs’ to series.” said FX CEO John Landgraf in a statement. “Alex is a visionary artist who with his partners has put together a stellar cast. We are grateful to Alex, Andrew, Allon, Scott, Eli and the brilliant casting team led by Carmen Cuba.”
FX has been a major contender in the limited series realm since Ryan Murphy’s pioneering “American Horror Story” and “American Crime Story” series began dominating at the Emmys. With Murphy now developing projects for Netflix, however, the network has been searching for new talent. It’s not hard to imagine that, a year from now, “Devs” could be an awards contender.
Executive producers include Garland, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA TV, Eli Bush and Scott Rudin, and Eli Bush. The series will be produced by FX Productions. “Devs” is set to premiere sometime in 2019.
