Zendaya to Star in Alex Garland's New Sci-Fi Film at A24

Zendaya will star in Alex Garland's next science-fiction film at A24, the company announced on Thursday. Details are under wraps. Production begins sometime in 2027.

The pairing is a bet both sides can afford. Zendaya's three 2026 films — "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," "The Odyssey," and A24's "The Drama" — grossed nearly $4.5 billion combined worldwide. Garland, for his part, just wrapped A24's costliest in-house production yet: the adaptation of the video game "Elden Ring," due in March 2028.

Why this collaboration matters

The untitled project marks the British filmmaker's fifth with A24, which distributed his directing debut "Ex Machina," plus "Men," "Civil War," and "Warfare" (co-directed with former U.S. Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza).

Garland's genre credentials run deep. He wrote the outer-space thriller "Sunshine" for director Danny Boyle, directed the artificial-intelligence landmark "Ex Machina" and the cosmic-horror "Annihilation" at Paramount, and imagined a near-future American collapse in "Civil War" — the film that set A24 box-office records in 2024 and stood as the studio's most expensive in-house movie until "Elden Ring" took the title.

There is a mild irony here. Back in 2024, around "Civil War," Garland told IndieWire he'd be stepping back from directing for the "foreseeable future." A slew of behind-camera projects followed instead.

What is Zendaya's current standing?

The 30-year-old "Euphoria" and "Challengers" actor is having the kind of year studios dream about:

• Three hits grossing nearly $4.5 billion combined
• A Best Actress in a Drama Series Emmy nomination for "Euphoria," which ended its three-season run this year
• A fourth film, "Dune: Part Three," opening on IMAX screens December 18

"Dune: Part Three" is widely expected to crash the Oscar race, per the source. High expectations, then, for a performer who keeps exceeding them.

How strong is A24 right now?

Strong enough to outpace Warner Bros. at the 2026 summer box office. A24 crossed the $200 million global milestone this year with "Backrooms" and opened a raft of hits — "The Drama" and, most recently, Robert Pattinson-starrer "Primetime" — to company-record-setting success across 2026.

Signing Zendaya to a Garland sci-fi picture, with production slated for 2027, signals the studio intends to keep scaling its in-house slate rather than coast on it.

By Daniel Okafor