Civil War Is The Perfect Reminder To Watch Alex Garland’s Show With 82% On Rotten Tomatoes

Mild spoilers are ahead for Devs.

Civil War, Alex Garland’s dystopian war film that centers on photojournalists, differs from the writer-director’s recent sci-fi offerings. Nonetheless, it’s a great reminder to watch (or rewatch) Garland’s 2020 miniseries, Devs. A techno-thriller with sci-fi leanings, Devs follows San Francisco-based software engineer Lily Chan (Sonoya Mizuno), who works for quantum computing company Amaya. The cryptic Silicon Valley company is led by Forest (Nick Offerman), as is a top-secret, personal project unfolding deep within Amaya’s campus. On his first day working for Amaya’s coveted-yet-mysterious Devs team, Sergei (Karl Glusman), Lily’s boyfriend, dies.

After being escorted into the Devs team’s futuristic bunker-meets-lab, Sergei surreptitiously records code from Forest’s highly confidential project. While Amaya’s head of security later kills Sergei for his devious actions, doctored footage surfaces of Sergei lighting himself on fire. Suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Sergei’s death — as well as the shroud enveloping Amaya’s Devs team and Forest’s ambitions — Lily begins to investigate the company. Like Civil War, Devs‘ ending digs deep into its themes, though the show’s exploration of human nature centers more on free will and determinism than morality.

Civil War Brings Back Several Key Cast Members From Devs

Nick Offerman, Stephen McKinley Henderson & Cailee Spaeny All Appeared In Devs

Aside from writer-director Alex Garland’s unique sensibility and touches, Devs and Civil War are linked by several frequent Garland collaborators. Sonoya Mizuno, who first worked with the filmmaker on Ex-Machina, leads Devs and has a minor role in Civil War as a frontline reporter. With cameo-level roles in both Annihilation and Men, Mizuno has appeared in every single Alex Garland project to hit the screen in the last decade. Mizuno isn’t the only actor to work with Garland multiple times. Offerman, who plays the determined-yet-nefarious Amaya CEO Forest, is also Civil War‘s unnamed dictatorial US president.

Although he may not make it to Civil War‘s ending sequence, Stephen McKinley Henderson is a constant presence throughout much of the film. The beloved character actor plays Sammy, a veteran New York Times journalist who previously served as photographer Lee Smith’s (Kirsten Dunst) mentor. In a true passing of the torch, Cailee Spaeny plays aspiring war photographer Jessie Cullen, who idolizes Lee. In Devs, Henderson and Spaeny played key members of Amaya’s Devs team. Even Karl Glusman and Jin Ha, who play minor roles as a spotter and sniper in Civil War, crop up in Garland’s 2020 show.

Devs Utilized Civil War’s Returning Cast Members Better

The Character Dynamics In Devs Are More Complicated Than In Civil War

In Garland’s Civil War, Nick Offerman’s role amounts to little more than a cameo. His dictatorial president, who is mid-third term during the movie’s main events, is more of a figurehead than a full-fledged character. Usually an affable presence, Offerman brings something unique to the villainous role. The same can be said of his time on Devs. Devs‘ Forest is certainly a more complicated character. For example, the Devs‘ system — a powerful computer that can show the actions of any subject in the past or future — was born from the loss of his daughter, Amaya.

While Henderson and Spaeny’s characters have a compelling student-mentor dynamic in Civil War, both actors are far better utilized in Alex Garland’s Devs. Henderson plays Stewart, a veteran programmer who works with Forest on a top-secret project. Even so, Stewart begins to question Forest’s intentions: seeing the CEO’s hubris for what it is, Stewart interrogates how Forest plans to seize control of the world’s future while he’s still so ignorant of the past. Ultimately, what happens to Spaeny’s Lyndon, a young Devs team prodigy who specializes in sound waves, pushes Stewart to challenge the project as a whole.

How Devs Compares To Civil War

Devs Delivers A Classic Cerebral Alex Garland Sci-Fi Thriller

While Civil War is grounded by a gritty, visceral realism, Devs serves up a classic science-fiction narrative — though one that’s marked with Garland’s signature touches. Both projects boast a philosophical quality, interrogating moral gray areas and what makes humans tick. Moreover, both Devs and Civil War feel meticulous and cold in their approaches. Although the narratives’ characters are compelling, both works feel more like a study — ones that throw their subjects into challenging scenarios. For viewers who are stuck on what caused the titular civil war in Garland’s movie, Devs might provide the world-building they’re craving.