If Devs is not on your list of most anticipated TV shows to watch this year, we could understand given how little has been said about the series up to this point. Now it is time to put it on your list because Hulu and FX are finally starting to promote it actively. There is still a lot that remains under wraps, but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on what we would like to see from it.
Up to this point, the series creator/director Alex Garland only has two official film directing credits with Ex Machina in 2015 and Annihilation in 2018. While neither were huge box office hits, they have both been critical darlings and have garnered plenty of fans. It’s difficult to nail down his style of directing with only that to go off of, but what we can say is to expect the unexpected. Here are a few things we’re hoping to see in Devs and a few we hope not to.
Do: Nick Offerman Against Type
Nick Offerman has more than his fair share of acting credits, but he’s primarily known for his comedic roles. Even some of his dramatic roles have had more than a twinge of humor to them. For a change, we wouldn’t mind seeing Offerman get really intensely dramatic.
Based on what we’ve gleaned from the trailer and the plot description, Offerman’s role as Forest, CEO of tech company Amaya, seems to have more than a few secrets to hide as the girlfriend of one of his employees investigates his murder she believes the company to be behind. Garland has pulled out some career-best work out of stars like Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac. We’re hoping he’s done the same with Offerman.
Don’t: AI Tropes
There is still a lot to be discovered with the plot of Devs, but given what we do know about it and Garland’s first film Ex Machina, it’s not a stretch to say that artificial intelligence (AI) of some sort will play a role.
Whatever direction that Garland decides to go, we’re hoping that it doesn’t end in a Terminator/Skynet kind of dystopia. This ground is well-tread and most of us are plenty wary of the power AI can demonstrate in this day and age. We want to see Garland take the conversation beyond simply scaring us and go into areas we wouldn’t otherwise expect.
Do: Strong Female Characters
One of the best creative choices made by Garland in his adaptation of Annihilation was to assign the main scientist roles in the book that were male as female. That subversion signaled to us that we wouldn’t be seeing the typical sci-fi alien invasion film where macho men would hunt down the aliens and take them out. Instead, these scientists were much more complicated and just as intriguing in their flaws as the alien beings they were coming into contact with.
Garland used the strength of his female-led cast to explore themes of self-destruction and evolution. He also made Alicia Vikander’s robot in Ex Machina a force to be reckoned with Oscar Issac and Domnhall Gleeson’s characters. With Sonoya Mizuno as the lead and Allison Pill and Caelie Spaeney rounding out the supporting cast, we want to see the same kind of complexity.
Don’t: All-Consuming Mystery Box
With the internet being filled with more than plenty of forums and discussion rooms, it is difficult to keep secrets and plot twists of TV shows from being spoiled. There are some shows like HBO’s Westworld that are determined to throw audiences off at all costs and keep them guessing until the very end, sometimes to the detriment of other story and character elements.
We all love a TV show that can surprise us and keep us on our toes, but we don’t want Devs to just be a giant mystery box with nothing on the inside. This has not been Garland’s approach in the past and we hope that while there is much to speculate about Devs now that our heads aren’t needlessly spinning come March.
Do: Mind-Blowing Visuals
While Ex Machina and Annihilation both spent much of their running time in the same general areas, Nathan Bateman’s estate and Area X, respectively, Garland hasn’t struggled to produce images that make us want to press pause and just admire the production design of his films.
With Devs, it seems a similar approach may be taken with most of the action appearing to take place at Amaya. The trailer, despite being less than two minutes, has already given us plenty to look at and think about. Please let there be plenty more in the episodes to follow!
Don’t: An Open Ending For More Seasons
Both Ex Machina and Annihilation certainly could have sequels, but Garland has shot down the possibilities in favor of moving on to more projects. With so much of our pop-culture landscape being crowded by remakes, reboots, prequels, and sequels, it is a breath of fresh air to see a creator with a lot of original stories to tackle.
Already Garland has at least one other series planned with FX. We would rather that Garland have the opportunity to move on to other projects that he has in the pipeline instead of being tied to another season of a show that is set up as a mini-series.
Do: Fantastic Score
This may be considered a cheat given that its something you hear, but in Garland’s movies, the score is crucial to the experience of what is on display. The composers of his last two films, Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, created mostly soft, enigmatic scores to accompany the astounding visuals of Annihilation and Ex Machina.
That’s not to say that there aren’t moments where it is loud and vocal, but much of their music serves as a means of gradually increasing the tension and mystery rather than screaming in your face. Salisbury and Barrow are back for Devs and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we’re in for more.
Don’t: Global Scale Problems
In Ex Machina and Annihilation, the implications of the problems the protagonists face could potentially grow into issues that extend far beyond their initial borders, but the films end before they get to that point. While this may frustrate some viewers, the smaller scale allows us to get to know the individual characters better, rather than constant communications between some defense base and our heroes.
There are plenty of movies and TV shows that require the heroes to go up against some foe or another with a giant beam in the sky that threatens humanity as we know it. We don’t need that here.
Do: Thought-Provoking Story
It’s somewhat difficult to have the experience of Garland’s films to be ruined by knowing what happens. It is a huge plus to walk into Garland’s work knowing nothing, but the ideas Garland examines in his film are weightier than the plot points themselves.
You can lose yourself in a rabbit-hole of YouTube videos trying to figure out the meaning of Annihilation. We’re hoping that in addition to the mysteries that remain there are lots of big ideas that will have us thinking long after we watch and rewatch them.
Don’t: Padded Episodes
Alex Garland reportedly was frustrated with trying to break down Devs into a 2-hour film and not getting the support he needed to make it, which drove him to pursue Devs as a mini-series. There are plenty of big ideas in Annihilation and Ex Machina and we want to see Devs do likewise.
No story-padding for the sake of filling eight episodes, please. We want each of them to feel necessary to the story.
