Dmitry Glukhovsky

2:20 Dmitry Glukhovsky helped write Metro 2039: Xbox Wire says he "returned to help craft the story", working with 4A Games from exile after a Russian court sentenced him in absentia for opposing the war in Ukraine. He is the novelist and screenwriter "best known as the author of the cult Metro series", the books Metro 2033, Metro 2034 and Metro 2035, on which every Metro game is built. Metro 2039 is not an adaptation of any of them: it is an original story, out Feb 4, 2027, that Steam and Deep Silver credit as "Based on the best-selling Metro book trilogy by Dmitry Glukhovsky". He was never physically arrested: the arrest order of 2022 and the sentence of 2023 were both handed down while he was abroad. The clip is ACG's Aug 2026 hands-on preview, from a preview build.

Quick facts

Sources: glukhovsky.com; Hachette UK; The Moscow Times (AFP), Jun 7, 2022; RFE/RL, Aug 7, 2023.

What is Glukhovsky's role in Metro 2039?

4A Games said in February 2025 that he was working with the studio on the next Metro, and at the reveal on Apr 16, 2026 executive producer Jon Bloch wrote that he collaborated on the writing. Co-creative director Pavel Ulmer said the team and the author made the story together, "united by our shared values of freedom and truth", and Bloch describes the work as a cooperative process. Glukhovsky himself promised a game "darker than anything you've seen before" (GameSpot, Apr 14, 2026). On Oct 13, 2026 his site called it "the next chapter of the Metro universe". The store copy says the game is "inspired by" his trilogy. His exact credit (writer, co-writer or consultant) has not been published as of Nov 3, 2026. The story itself is on Metro 2039 Story.

Life and early career

He was born in Moscow and grew up by the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy; his Metro station was Exhibition, and its pavilions after the Soviet collapse looked to him like ruined Greek temples. VDNKh, the station named for that exhibition, is Artyom's home in the novel Metro 2033. As a child riding the Metro during the Cold War he learned it lay 40 to 100 meters underground and pictured people living there "as if it was a modern-day Noah's Ark". Reuters calls him a former journalist; his publisher calls him a writer, playwright and journalist and a long-time critic of Russia's authoritarian government. No source read for this page states his birth date; the year 1979 fits the ages the press gave him (42 in June 2022, 43 in January 2023).

The Metro novels

Metro 2033 went online for free as an interactive project in 2002 and drew more than 2 million readers before a Russian print edition in 2005. US publishers turned it down, so he self-published an English ebook through Amazon; Gollancz published its English edition on Mar 18, 2010. His site says the novel is in 41 languages with more than 4 million copies sold. Metro 2034 followed in 2009 and Metro 2035, which closes the trilogy, in 2015. After Metro 2034 he opened the world to other writers, the shared series on Metro 2033 Universe.

His other books, films and plays

His site lists Sumerki (2007), Tales about the Motherland (2010), Futu.re (2013), Text (2017), The Outpost (2019 to 2021), We. Diary of a Fall (2024, essays written in exile) and Registration (2026), a novel in Russian only about a woman from Vologda looking for her fiance, missing in the war in Ukraine. He released Registration free on his Telegram channel on Sep 17, 2026, as he once did with Metro 2033. On screen he wrote the film Text (Oct 24, 2019, four Golden Eagle Awards) and the series The Swamp (2021); on stage, Text ran at Moscow's Ermolova Theater until it was dropped after 2022, and The White Factory (2023) won three Offies in London. The Metro screen projects are on Metro Film Adaptation.

The games before Metro 2039

0:14 THQ's Metro 2033 (2010) was made working closely with him; 4A had found the free web text before the book was printed. For Metro: Last Light he wrote the plot and dialogue and created more than 100 side characters. For Metro Exodus he worked on the script and dialogue; of 4A's idea he said "I immediately felt it was mine." He wrote the story of the VR prequel Metro Awakening (2024) with Vertigo Games, the origin of Khan. He has said of games and books that "story comes first", and he told Polygon in 2024 that the books and games all carry an anti-war, anti-dictatorship message. In the clip Gaming Harry introduces the novels and the games.

Was Dmitry Glukhovsky arrested?

Not in person. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine he published statements about Russian troop losses and the killing of Ukrainian civilians, and Russia's Interior Ministry put him on its wanted list. On Jun 7, 2022 Moscow's Basmanny district court ordered his arrest in absentia, accusing him of discrediting the armed forces over an Instagram post; his answer on Telegram began "Stop the war!" Russia also added him to its "foreign agents" list, so his books there must carry that label and may not be sold to under-18s, which he calls "schizophrenia" while they stay bestsellers. Reports of the arrest order's date differ: AFP gives Jun 7, 2022, and Novaya Gazeta Europe's 2023 report mentions a warrant "in early July".

The 2023 sentence

On Aug 7, 2023 the Basmanny court sentenced him in absentia to eight years in prison for online posts criticizing the invasion. Novaya Gazeta Europe reported the charge as spreading "fake news" about the military, and he said of the post accusing Putin, "I still stand by what I wrote there." His lawyer called the ruling politically motivated. He had left Russia before the invasion and is unlikely to serve it. 4A Games calls him its "friend and co-creator", and its Metro 2039 letter says he lives in exile from Russia, "where dissent is a crime". How the war shaped the new game is on Metro 2039 and the War in Ukraine.

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote the Metro books? Dmitry Glukhovsky, a Russian novelist born in Moscow, wrote the three Metro novels: Metro 2033, Metro 2034 and Metro 2035.

Did Dmitry Glukhovsky write Metro 2039? He helped write it: 4A Games says Glukhovsky collaborated on Metro 2039's story, an original one not taken from his books; his exact credit is not published as of Nov 3, 2026.

Why was Dmitry Glukhovsky sentenced? A Moscow court sentenced the Metro author in absentia to eight years in prison on Aug 7, 2023 for online posts criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Is Dmitry Glukhovsky in prison? No. The Metro author left Russia before the invasion and lives in exile in Europe, so the 2023 sentence was passed in his absence.

Where does Dmitry Glukhovsky live? In exile in Europe, his publisher says; he worked on Metro 2039 from there.

Is there a new Glukhovsky book? Yes. The Metro author published the novel Registration, in Russian, free on Telegram on Sep 17, 2026.

Sources

• METRO 2039, Steam, store page
• METRO 2039 | Pre-Order Now!, Deep Silver, Oct 13, 2026
• Xbox First Look: Metro 2039 - Everything We Learned Today, Xbox Wire, Apr 16, 2026
• Metro 2039 revealed as the post-apocalyptic shooter series returns, PlayStation Blog, Apr 16, 2026
• METRO 2039 - A Letter To Our Community, 4A Games, Apr 16, 2026
• Metro 15th Anniversary Update, 4A Games, Mar 16, 2025
• 4A Games Studio Update, 4A Games, Feb 28, 2025
• Metro 2039 takes on tunnel Nazis in a story shaped by the Ukraine war, GamesRadar+, Apr 16, 2026
• Metro 2039 Ditches Hope Entirely for a Darker Return to Moscow, Wccftech, Aug 26, 2026
• Metro 2039 Will Be "Darker Than Anything You've Seen Before," Book Author Says, GameSpot, Apr 14, 2026
• Dmitry Glukhovsky, glukhovsky.com, undated
• Books, glukhovsky.com, undated
• Games, glukhovsky.com, undated
• Movies, glukhovsky.com, undated
• Theater, glukhovsky.com, undated
• Dmitry Glukhovsky Publishes New Novel «Registration», glukhovsky.com, Sep 17, 2026
• «Metro 2039» Is Now Available for Pre-Order, glukhovsky.com, Oct 13, 2026
• Dmitry Glukhovsky, Hachette UK, undated
• Metro 2033 (ebook), Hachette UK (Gollancz), undated
• Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky interview, Digital Trends, May 19, 2013
• THQ Unveils Metro 2033, Game Informer, Oct 22, 2009
• Metro Exodus Cover Story, Leaving The Rails, Game Informer, Jan 25, 2019
• Metro Exodus is the antidote to the "merry Western apocalypse", PCGamesN, Jan 16, 2019
• Metro's creator says "story comes first" and disses Transformers, PCGamesN, Jan 17, 2019
• Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky has a new VR game, as well as an 8-year prison sentence inside Russia, Polygon, Sep 25, 2024
• The Russian novelist who predicted a nuclear apocalypse, The Daily Star (Reuters), Jan 27, 2023
• Russia court orders arrest of critical sci-fi writer, The Moscow Times (AFP), Jun 7, 2022
• Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky and Navalny ally Vladimir Milov placed on Russia's wanted list, Novaya Gazeta Europe, Jun 7, 2022
• Moscow court sentences exiled author Dmitry Glukhovsky to 8 years in prison for 'fake news', Novaya Gazeta Europe, Aug 7, 2023
• Glukhovsky sentenced for condemning war, RFE/RL, Aug 7, 2023
• Metro author Glukhovsky sentenced to eight years in prison by Russia, PCGamesInsider, Aug 11, 2023
• I Spent 20 Hours in Metro 2039 - Hands on Preview, ACG, Aug 26, 2026 (video)
• The ENTIRE Metro Story... So Far..., Gaming Harry, May 14, 2022 (video)