--- title: "Devs" year: 2020 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/devs" fi1m_score: 68 critics_score: 70 critics_reviews: 18 published: "2026-09-17T03:39:53.764484+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T03:39:54.156220+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Devs (2020) Created by Alex Garland · 52m · MPA TV-MA · Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama, Mystery **Fi1m score: 68** · Critics 70 from 18 reviews *In a sentence:* A golden box in the redwoods where clever people take eight hours to agree that nothing was ever up to anyone > Alex Garland’s first series is handsome, patient and slow, a tech thriller that stops every twenty minutes to explain free will. Nick Offerman and Alison Pill make the explaining bearable; Sonoya Mizuno, as the woman doing the investigating, is given too little to play. ## Synopsis San Francisco. Lily Chan (Sonoya Mizuno) writes code at Amaya, a quantum computing company whose campus sits among redwoods beneath a colossal statue of a small girl. Its founder, Forest (Nick Offerman), keeps a division called Devs in a sealed gold building at the edge of the grounds, and nobody outside it knows what it does. Lily’s boyfriend, an engineer at the firm, is invited to join Devs, and after his first day inside he does not come home. Lily wants to know where he is, and turns to an ex-boyfriend, Jamie (Jin Ha), for help. Between her and the answer stand Forest, his head of security Kenton (Zach Grenier), and Katie (Alison Pill), who runs Devs. ## Review Alex Garland has made two films about people in sealed places asking what they are, [*Ex Machina*](https://film.one/film/ex-machina) (2014) and *Annihilation* (2018), and *Devs* is his first series: eight episodes, all written and directed by him. It is about a machine that can see everything that has happened and everything that will, and whether that leaves anyone room to choose. It looks superb, it is well acted in the corners, and it takes eight hours to make a point its best scene makes in five minutes. The place is the first thing that works. Mark Digby’s Devs building is a gold-lined cube hung inside a concrete shell, every surface gilt and lattice. Outside, the campus is redwoods and lawn, and over all of it stands a statue of Forest’s small daughter, tall as the trees, arms out. Rob Hardy shoots the grounds in hazy daylight with the sun spilling into the lens, and the cube in a gold that makes everyone inside look faintly sunburnt. Guy Speranza puts Forest in the same hooded fleece and Lily in the same grey jumper day after day. We believed in it at once. Nick Offerman plays Forest as a grieving billionaire who has stopped arguing with anyone, himself included. He has the beard of a prophet and the manner of a man asking whether you want the last of the coffee, and when he says something monstrous he says it like a weather forecast. Alison Pill’s Katie is his corrective: cool, exact, and the one person on the campus who can explain the machine in a sentence when the men around her take a scene. The trouble is at the centre. Lily is the one doing the investigating, and Garland has written her as watchful, clever and almost without visible want. Sonoya Mizuno holds her face still for eight hours, and there were stretches where we could not have told you whether Lily was frightened, angry or working something out, and the series needed us to know. Jin Ha gives Jamie, the ex who gets pulled back in, the ordinary reactions of an ordinary man, and the series is livelier when he is on screen. Zach Grenier’s Kenton, the head of security, is a heavy in a good suit with a tired competence that frightened us more than menace would have. In the first episode Kenton does something on a dark path through the redwoods that we will not describe. Garland films it from a distance, without music, then shows it again through a security camera. We were horrified, and what horrified us was the calm: a terrible thing presented as footage, as something that was always going to happen. That is the whole idea of *Devs* in one scene, and it is nearly the last time the idea is shown rather than said. From the third episode on somebody explains determinism roughly once an hour, usually in the gold room and usually in the same words, and by the fifth we had stopped listening and were looking at the lattice. We were bored, then irritated, because the series had already proved it knew how to show things. Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny, as the engineers Stewart and Lyndon, are the pleasure of the middle hours. Henderson treats the end of free will the way an old man treats a change to the bus timetable, and Spaeny plays Lyndon as a teenager who is cleverer than everyone around her and cannot stop saying so. The music, by Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow, Bob Locke and Tim Norfolk, is low drones and wordless chant laid under the campus, with blasts of distorted noise whenever the cube appears. It works the first four times. Jake Roberts cuts slowly, holding on faces and on the statue, and now and then the frame fractures so that a character stands in three places at once, the series’ one visual trick and a good one. *Ex Machina* had three people, one house and one question, and it trusted us to sit with the question. *Devs* has the same question and eight episodes to fill, and it fills them with restatement. The final episode, which we will not describe, answers the question and then explains the answer, and the explaining is the weaker half. Watch it at home, one episode an evening, and do not try two. It is built to be looked at, and the gold room is lovelier after a day away from it. Eight episodes of 52 minutes, and it carries an 18 certificate. *Fi1m score 68, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics take to Devs, and the praise clusters on how it looks and sounds. Garland’s control as writer and director is noted repeatedly: the slow, hushed imagery, the production design of the tech campus, the sound, and a mood several reviews call hypnotic. The ideas about determinism and free will strike most as ambitious enough to grip, the ensemble draws warm notices, with NME singling out Nick Offerman as the CEO, and the series is widely read as an extension of Ex Machina. The reservations cluster on pace and plot. Several reviews find the dialogue expository or opaque and the story thin across eight hours, the ideas carrying more weight than the characters. The Guardian finds the leads miscast. The spread is wide: The i Paper gives five stars, while The Times finds it slow and soulless and Variety calls it a misfire that becomes punishing at length. Only two outright negatives among eighteen, but a crowded middle of qualified approval. ### Reviews we read (18) - **The i Paper**, Rupert Hawksley (★★★★★): The critic praises the series as beautiful, terrifying and stimulating, highlighting its plausible sci-fi exploration of big tech companies, power and moral questions. It is called brilliant and compulsive television. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/devs-bbc2-review-alex-garland-silicon-valley-tech-companies-series-418692) - **IndieWire**, Ben Travers (90/100, inferred): The series is a contemplative knockout from Alex Garland, delivering another near-future nightmare about a suspicious developer unraveling mysteries at a tech pioneer's company. It stands out for its ambitious sci-fi storytelling and strong lead performances. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/devs-review-fx-hulu-alex-garland-1202211794/) - **Empire** (80/100, inferred): The review describes the series as an eight-hour Garland movie full of beautiful, weird and breathtaking imagery, with assured direction handling both the mystery plot and philosophical questions about technology and free will. It calls it superbly assured and potentially the best series about freaky shit since The OA. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/devs/) - **Radio Times** (4/5): The critic finds the series bold, intelligent and one of the year's most inventive TV pieces, with stunning visuals and cerebral storytelling that succeeds as engaging drama. It is unique, striking and a worthy follow-up to Garland's films. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/devs-review-alex-garland-bbc-two/) - **The Telegraph** (4/5): The review praises the opening episode as a rivetingly cryptic sci-fi thriller that keeps viewers guessing about its ambitious tech premise. Garland's return to themes from Ex Machina is highlighted positively in this stylish BBC Two premiere. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2020/04/15/devs-episode-1-review-alex-garland-keeps-us-guessing-thisrivetingly/) - **Evening Standard**, Lucy Pavia (75/100, inferred): The critic is gripped by the thriller's secretive Silicon Valley setting and mysterious tech elements despite often impenetrable dialogue. Garland's cinematic style and Ex Machina-like themes are highlighted as compelling draws in this visually striking series. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/devs-bbc-two-review-a4415111.html) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the series haunting and hypnotic with a unity of vision and marrow-seeping mood that casts a unique spell, though the ending is a bit on-the-nose. It is described as incredibly Alex Garland-esque and absorbing for fans of his prior work. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/devs-review-1280313/) - **The AV Club**, Danette Chavez (B-): Garland builds a meticulous mystery around determinism and free will in a restrained but overstuffed limited series. The deliberate pacing and expository dialogue engage through strong performances despite feeling beholden to its philosophical principles. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/alex-garland-builds-a-meticulous-mystery-in-the-restrai-1842026005) - **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): The review calls Devs ambitious, thoughtful and often jarringly beautiful with impressive scale and design, but notes it is shakier on plot and character development over eight hours. Garland's willingness to tackle big tech issues is praised despite some reach exceeding grasp. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/devs-review-bbc-hulu-fox-cast-alex-garland-sonoya-mizuno-nick-offerman-a9466821.html) - **The Guardian** (60/100, inferred): The critic finds Devs an ambitious but uneven miniseries that expands Garland's sci-fi universe effectively in places yet suffers from miscast leads who fail to convey emotional depth. Visuals and supporting performances are singled out as strengths in an otherwise flawed thriller about big tech and determinism. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/05/devs-tv-review-alex-garland) - **Vulture** (60/100, inferred): Alex Garland transfers his psychologically intense sci-fi style to TV with mixed results, creating a transfixing yet frustratingly opaque and slow series. It excels in visuals, sound design, and performances but struggles with narrative depth and engagement over its runtime. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/devs-review-alex-garland-hulu-series.html) - **Variety** (40/100, inferred): The review calls the limited series a misfire that probes free will and fate but fails to be intriguing enough over its length, with a relentlessly tight focus that becomes punishing. It notes the creator's talent but finds the execution lacking. [Read](https://variety.com/2020/tv/reviews/devs-review-fx-hulu-1203505187/) - **The Times**, Carol Midgley (★★☆☆☆): The critic finds the series slow and unengaging with clichéd dialogue and soulless characters that fail to hold interest despite intriguing ideas. The preoccupation with clever concepts comes at the expense of compelling drama and humour. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/devs-review-a-slow-soulless-tale-of-silicon-valley-whizz-kids-ksjqpvcmq) - **Collider**, Haleigh Foutch (★★★★): The review hails Devs as a rich, complex, ambitious and gorgeous mind-bender that expands Garland's sci-fi fascinations to television with experimental imagery and deep existential themes. It singles out the pervasive anxiety, striking visuals, sound design, and standout performances from the ensemble for praise. [Read](https://collider.com/devs-review-fx-hulu-alex-garland/) - **NME**, Dan Seddon (80/100, inferred): The review finds Devs a hauntingly beautiful, Kubrick-influenced meditation on humanity and determinism that is slow but dense with meaning. It singles out the stellar cast, particularly Nick Offerman's laconic performance as the messianic CEO, and Garland's visual world-building for praise. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/devs-review-alex-garland-kubrick-2639949) - **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (75/100, inferred): The review calls Devs a dense, layered, near-hypnotic and challenging sci-fi saga that rewards close attention with its cryptic storytelling and mind-blowing originality. It singles out the lived-in yet futuristic world-building, ominous atmosphere, and strong ensemble performances for praise while noting the deliberate pacing may alienate casual viewers. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/572375/devs-review/) - **The Ringer**, Alison Herman (65/100, inferred): Herman concludes that Devs both fails as a television show and transcends the medium altogether, delivering a mood-driven experience that prioritizes atmosphere over conventional storytelling. She singles out Garland’s signature sense of atmosphere and the lush, mystical production design for particular praise. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2020/03/05/tv/devs-review-hulu-fx-nick-offerman) - **Den of Geek**, Natalie Zutter (3/5): Alex Garland's tense, dense tech thriller miniseries moves slowly but rewards patience with brilliant sci-fi ideas worth the wait. It shines in its arresting visuals and recontextualization of the world in later episodes, though early pacing and repetitive explanations of the MacGuffin detract. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/devs-review-spoiler-free/) ## Details - **Created by:** Alex Garland - **Creator:** Alex Garland - **Director:** Alex Garland - **Writer:** Alex Garland - **Cinematography:** Rob Hardy - **Editor:** Jake Roberts - **Music:** Bob Locke, Tim Norfolk, Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury - **Production design:** Mark Digby - **Costume design:** Guy Speranza - **Producer:** Sara Desmond - **Cast:** Sonoya Mizuno as Lily Chan; Nick Offerman as Forest; Jin Ha as Jamie; Cailee Spaeny as Lyndon; Stephen McKinley Henderson as Stewart; Alison Pill as Katie; Zach Grenier as Kenton; Brian d'Arcy James as Anton - **Runtime:** 52m - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 5 March 2020 - **Genres:** Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama, Mystery ## Where to watch in the US - Hulu: streaming, uhd - Disney+: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, JP, LT, MX, NL, NO, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Ex Machina* (2014), Fi1m 82: Garland asking the same question with three people, one house and no padding — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ex-machina.md) - *Primer* (2004), Fi1m 79: Two engineers in a garage break causality on no money and explain nothing twice — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/primer.md) - *Solaris* (1972): Tarkovsky’s slow, grieving science fiction, where the machine knows you better than you do - *Mr. Robot* (2015), Fi1m 84: A tech paranoia series that keeps its thriller running while it thinks — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/mr-robot.md) - *Arrival* (2016), Fi1m 86: Determinism as a love story, told in two hours and without a lecture — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/arrival.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/devs