Devs: Sonoya Mizuno Details Lily’s Endgame, Collaborating with Alex Garland, and More

Alex Garland’s Devs officially drew to a close this week, after providing viewers with eight incredibly emotional and profound hours of television. The FX on Hulu series follows a conspiracy within Devs, a secret division inside of the tech company Amaya. When Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) begins to suspect that Devs led to her boyfriend’s suicide, she is sent down a rabbit hole that is much more profound than anyone – including Lily – would expect. Mizuno is no stranger to working with Garland, previously playing Kyoko in Ex Machina, and portraying The Humanoid in Annihilation. But with Devs, Mizuno gets her (well-deserved) time in the spotlight, and she creates a compelling and complicated lead heroine in the process.

In honor of Devs‘ series finale, we got to chat with Mizuno about her role in the series, and how it has impacted both her collaborative relationship with Garland, and her overall relationship with technology. In the process, we spoke about why she finds the series’ polarizing ending to be a true love story, how surreal it was to film in the Devs facility, and Garland’s next miniseries.

Lily

ComicBook.com: What drew you to Lily as a character? Because she just seems so fascinating.

Sonoya Mizuno: Oh, thank you. Well, I guess that was partly it. I thought she was kind of fascinating, because she felt so different from a lot of female protagonists. She felt very complicated, and she felt like she did things for her own mind. She didn’t participate in groupthink and she was truly an outsider, and had a kind of quiet boldness to her, which I thought was really unusual. It’s just nice to have a chance to play characters who don’t fit into the typical box of a such-and-such type of character, or a character who does this kind of job, or has to act like that. She felt like a very complicated woman, and then really exciting and frightening to try and step into her shoes.

Collaborating with Alex

Obviously, you’ve worked with Alex several times now. How has your relationship and your sense of collaboration evolved since Ex Machina?

I’d say that, from the very beginning, Alex has always been so easy to collaborate with. I know I speak on behalf of all of the cast when I say that, and all of the people who worked in the crew as well. I think there’s always been a sense of… if you’re on one of his sets, there’s a really wonderful atmosphere of collaboration. He’s really keen to have everyone on the same page and able to share their ideas and have an influence on whatever it is we’re making. I felt that from the very first time I worked with him, even though I was very inexperienced. Ex Machina was the first film I’d ever done. So, I felt that then.

But I guess, over time, trust has built up and we’ve worked together, and I think he knows what kind of actor I am. And the kind of creative person I am, because obviously in Annihilation, we used a lot with my dance background as well. So I think trust has built up as we’ve gotten to know each other more. Obviously, having that groundwork just makes it a great point to start from, because you’re not starting from scratch each time.

Technology

Has being involved with Devs impacted your relationship with technology in any way?

Yeah, I would say it has. I think I’ve always had a personal disquiet about technology and the tech industry, and how it’s controlling and taking over a lot of aspects of our life. I always felt a bit uneasy about it, but I could never have understood or articulated it well enough. But then when we worked on the show, and we really got into the minds of these people. And we understood how much control they have, how fast that industry is moving, and how our society isn’t set up to support and control it. It made me understand why I felt inherently uneasy about it. And then I deleted all my social media.

The Ending

I have to ask about the ending of the series, because I just love it, and I really love the footing that it leaves Lily on, in particular. How did you feel, both playing that and then just interpreting it on the page?

Well, first of all, thank you. I’m really glad you liked it because I think it seems to divide people, the ending. But I agree with you, I find it very profound and I find it very touching. Because, to me, the most important thing for Lily’s journey was the understanding of what love means to her. She goes on this really difficult journey of loving people and losing people, and the love and the loss shaping her and propelling her to do things, and finally getting to a point of understanding who she truly loves and what that really means. So, for me, the ending was the only way it could end, because she ended with the person she knew she had to be with. The way it ends with just the two of them hugging was really touching for me. I remember, that day, feeling quite emotional. Because, at the end of the day, in all this complex language, philosophical thought, and scientific ideas, it is, to me, a love story. So, it felt like a beautiful ending.

The Series

What do you hope people take away from the series as a whole?

I think the thing about Alex’s work, in general, is it has so much to offer, and there’s so many levels that you can enjoy it on. It’s a tech thriller, so that’s one part of it, and then there are these big philosophical and scientific ideas, where you could want to start googling quantum physics, and that’s great too. But at the end of the day, I guess it relates to the answer before: for me, the most important thing was that it was a love story. I hope people feel connected to that part of it too. Also, I hope the show is for those kinds of people who feel, I guess, a bit like an outsider like Lily. I hope they can be comforted by her and her journey.

Favorite Scene

Is there a scene in the series that is your favorite, either to film or just when you initially read it?

That’s difficult. There’s a lot. I loved filming the Episode 6 sequences with Alison Pill across the kitchen table. It was an amazing experience, just filming that kind of intense, subtle dialogue, sitting across a table for four days straight. It was very intensive and really satisfying. I loved filming that.

And, I think, maybe all the stuff in the Devs facility, because we filmed it right at the very end, and me, Alison and Nick were there in that last couple of weeks. It started to feel very trippy because we’d have to run these — the lift sequence, I think we counted, we did it 80 times or something. We started to feel like we were in these different parallel universes. The fact that it came right at the end of the shoot was very climactic and fun. Then, also, working with Nick and Alison, who are just both great sports and really fun to be with, was wonderful. But honestly, it’s difficult to say, because it was all pretty special.

Filming in Devs

Since you mentioned the Devs facility, I was wondering — what it was like actually filming in there? Because that does seem like it would be a very trippy experience.

It was, and that place was built completely. You walked into this huge soundstage, which was covered in this pulsing gold leaf. That lift really existed, and the whole thing was built. It was kind of breathtaking, really, first walking in there. Alex had told us his ideas, and there were mockups, and these were all things that had basically come out of his mind, and then suddenly we were in this space. Alex gave it a real eerie quality to being outside in the real world, which it needed, obviously. The quantum computer was… it was absolutely amazing to see. It was literally like a kind of modern art sculpture more than a computer… which they are, actually. They’re enclosed, usually, in these big metal cylinders, but they’re very beautiful objects. It was very cool.

Next Miniseries

Alex has spoken in the past about wanting to do another miniseries, ideally with the same cast. Is that something that you’re hoping to be a part of?

I hope so. I really hope so. Given the current climate, God knows what is going to happen. But the idea of it is lovely, and I really hope it happens.

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All of Devs is available to stream exclusively on FX on Hulu.