The 28 Years Later and its in-development sequel.

Historically, Garland's writing and directing projects have been pretty well spread out, typically with at least two years in between movie releases that he's worked on. However, that cadence changed in 2024, as Garland suddenly became involved with a number of projects seemingly at the same time. Part of that is certainly a result of how successful his projects have been, and as one of the primary creators behind the 28 Days Later franchise, the trilogy is certainly taking up a large part of his focus as a writer.

Alex Garland Has Been Very Busy This Year

Garland Has Worked On Four Major Projects In The Span Of Just A Year

Alex Garland has acted as both a writer and director since first gaining fame as a novelist. Between 2014 and 2018, Garland rattled off three diverse and highly-regarded movies as both writer and director: Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Men. He returned to the director's chair once more in 2024 with the dystopian war film Civil War, after which he declared he would be taking a break from directing. That certainly didn't mean he would be taking any time off; on the contrary, Garland has had his hands in three projects in addition to Civil War in 2024.

Garland will once again collaborate with director Danny Boyle for 28 Years Later, for which Garland will be the primary screenwriter and a producer. While that movie hurtles towards its 2025 release, Garland has already begun the writing and development of the movie's sequel, 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple. With a planned trilogy to lay the groundwork for, the two 28 Years Later projects were certainly a massive undertaking from a writing perspective.

As if that wasn't enough, Garland acted as the co-writer and ing director for Ray Mendoza's real-time Iraq War film Warfare. Mendoza, a real Iraq War veteran, was the military supervisor for Garland's Civil War, and will step forward as the director of Warfare based on his real experiences during the war. While the original plan was for both Garland and Mendoza to direct together, Garland's wish to step back from directing led him to a more ive role, with Mendoza taking the lead as director. However, as a primary writer, Garland still had heavy involvement in the movie's production.

Alex Garland Has Become Hollywood's Go-To Guy For Dystopian Stories

Garland Is A Master At Dealing With Elements That Lead To Broken Futures

One of the most common elements of Garland's various movies is the setting. Many of Garland's movies are set in the very near future, but it's almost always a distorted, dystopian version of where humanity might be headed. The 28 Days Later franchise and Civil War are perfect examples; one deals with the repercussions of a virus produced in a lab ravaging humankind, while the other deals with a corrupt political regime perverting democracy to the point of a new nationwide conflict.

With the exception of 2022's Men, which is decidedly a folk horror movie, all of Garland's feature-length projects have dealt with a dystopian future of some kind. Even his 2010 romantic drama Never Let Me Go is set in a world where medical breakthroughs have advanced human lifespans to well over 100 years.

Both scenarios are fantastic yet disturbingly plausible, which is a hallmark of Garland's work. His stories often force viewers to examine the world around them and recognize what elements could lead to the horrific futures depicted in the movies. The concept even follows for Warfare, which is set in the very real past but deals with one of the traits of modern civilization that could lay society low and yield a true dystopian future: war. 28 Years Later will act as the latest demonstration of Garland's mastery of this style of story-telling.