(L to R) Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his son Spike (Alfie Williams) in Columbia Pictures’ ’28 Years Later’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
‘28 Years Later,’ as the title suggests, picks up nearly three decades since London –– and the rest of the UK–– was overtaken by a virus that turned its victims into rage-filled monsters who savage their victims in 2002’s ’28 Days Later’.
While the “Z” word is never used, the Infected, for all their fast speed, are certainly a take on the zombie genre.
‘28 Weeks Later’, which was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, picked up the story months later as the country is slowly cleared of the infected, with evacuated civilians returning –– even as the danger persists.
Boyle’s recent movie explores what life is like for the people who are making a go of living in the country –– and the fact that while the Infected are still a threat, the original movie’s theme of man’s inhumanity to man, even in the case of a unifying situation, also emerges.
The story of young Spike (Alfie Williams), the main survivor we met in that film will continue in the ‘Bone Temple’ alongside that of Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson, who has his own dealings with the infected. And it’ll also have more of a focus on the weird Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), the weird warrior who pops up at the end.
Who is involved in the third ‘28 Years Later’ movie?
Cillian Murphy in 2002’s ’28 Days Later.’ Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Alongside the returning cast, Garland –– who has written and produced the movies so far –– is back on script duty, and there is the distinct possibility that Boyle might also direct this one.
Plus, Oscar winner Cillian Murphy –– who played Jim in the original ‘28 Days Later’ (and –– spoiler alert –– shows up in ‘The Bone Temple’) is likely to have a meatier role in the new film.
When will the third ‘28 Years Later’ movie be in theaters?
The third movie has yet to be formally announced by Sony, but since ‘The Bone Temple’ was shot shortly after ‘28 Years Later,’ that will be in cinemas sooner rather than later: January 16, to be exact.
Nia DaCosta (director, ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’) at CinemaCon 2025 for Sony Pictures at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on March 31, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Stewart Cook/Sony Pictures via Getty Images.
An infected in Columbia Pictures’ ’28 Years Later’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
Director Danny Boyle’s ’28 Days Later,’ released in 2003, gave a fresh new spark of life (pardon the expression) to the reanimated dead. Well, hold up: the rabid, frenzied, flesh-tearing creatures of Boyle’s groundbreaking film were not zombies risen from the grave, but living humans infected with a powerful bioweapon – nicknamed the Rage Virus – that turned them into fast-moving, savage, homicidal murderers within minutes.
Boyle’s overwhelmingly violent Infected (as they came to be called), the use of digital video cameras for maximum flexibility, the filming in real locations, and the emphasis on character – particularly Cillian Murphy’s Jim – all contributed to the movie’s success and its impact on the zombie subgenre of horror, no matter what Boyle called his monsters. ’28 Weeks Later,’ a lackluster sequel without the involvement of either Boyle or writer Alex Garland (later to write and direct ‘Ex Machina,’‘Civil War,’ and ‘Warfare’), followed five years later, and rumors have persisted ever since about a third movie – with Boyle allegedly interested in returning.
Now it’s happened: Boyle and Garland have returned respectively to direct and write ’28 Years Later,’ which – as the title confirms – takes place decades after the initial outbreak of the Rage Virus. And true to form, the two filmmakers have once again crafted a horror epic that, while it may not feel as groundbreaking as the original, is incredibly intense, visceral, and atmospheric, while providing characters whose fates we come to care very much about.
Story and Direction
Director Danny Boyle for Columbia Pictures’ ’28 Years Later’. Photo: Anthony Ghnassia.
An opening card tells us that the Rage Virus was driven back from continental Europe but confined to the British mainland, with a strict quarantine in place and the survivors inside left to fend for themselves. Admittedly, there’s a rather large hole in the story here if you want to think about it: have there really been no attempts in nearly three decades to contact anyone living inside the quarantine zone, or find a way to rescue them? Perhaps Boyle and Garland are saying something about the transactional, indifferent relationship among nations now, in which a nation’s collapse leads others to push away as if they don’t want to get caught in its wake and pulled under with it, but it still sits there as a gap in the worldbuilding.
Otherwise that worldbuilding is largely well-handled. The bulk of the film takes place among the community of Holy Island, a thousand-acre patch floating off the coast and connected by a causeway. The community there is a rural, agrarian one, isolating themselves with heavy fortifications at the causeway entrance and the water around them doing the rest (their form of government is never quite explained, but they’re damn good at throwing drunken, almost ritualistic parties).
It’s here we meet 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), his dad Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his mum Isla (Jodie Comer), as Spike prepares for a kind of rite of passage in which he and his dad will cross the causeway to the mainland so that Spike can kill his first Infected. Isla, however, is not completely on board with it, but can’t do much about it either: she is suffering from a malady that causes her great pain, mood disorders, and memory loss, and since Holy Island has no doctors there is no way to determine what is afflicting her.
Jamie and Spike’s trip to the mainland – the rules are that if they don’t come back, no one will go out to look for them – is not exactly a walk in the park. They’re pursued by both slow-moving Infected that have bloated into almost slug-like form and the fast-moving brand seen in the previous two movies, only now mostly filthy, naked, and barely recognizable as human. There are also “alphas,” leader-type Infected whose bodies have been expanded to strongman proportions by the Rage Virus and are, if anything, even more relentless and brutal than the regular flavor.
Spike makes his first kill, although he bungles the rest (“the more you kill, the easier it gets,” his dad offers helpfully), and learns that there is an insane man living further out in the land who may have once been a doctor. “There are strange people on the mainland,” Jamie warns, but after father and son return to Holy Island and a lavish celebration – during which Spike sees Jamie do something that is hurtful to the boy – Spike turns on his dad, smuggles Isla from the house, and secretly takes her to the mainland, where he hopes to locate the doctor, Ian Kelson, and see if he can make his mother well again.
All this plays out in a visual aesthetic that pays homage to the original film but enhances it. Boyle uses up to 20 iPhones to shoot some sequences, including a sort of version of “bullet time” for a number of the film’s very gory kills. Yet the film is also shot in an ultra-wide 2:76:1 ratio, giving it an expansive feel while retaining the intimacy of the original movie. The editing is quick, as in ’28 Days,’ and often choppy, mirroring the chaos of the world in which the story is set, while certain scenes – like Spike and Jamie’s frantic dash back on the causeway against a glittering star-filled sky – have a dark fairy tale patina to them.
There are other sequences, some even in broad daylight with the backdrop of pristine green fields and mountains behind them, that border on nightmarish due to the frightening assault of the Infected at nearly every turn. There are moments of beauty as well, such as a late scene between Spike and Isla in the temple of bones glimpsed in the trailers. And there are bucketfuls of in-your-face gore as the Infected kill or are killed, with plenty of guts, gouts of blood, and decapitated heads on hand (not to mention one skin-crawling yet eventually poignant scene on an abandoned train) to firmly establish this new entry’s credentials for the zombie horror crowd.
But best of all, there is a great story behind it all, anchored by terrific characters like Jamie, Spike, Isla, and later, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). Although the script can feel episodic and there are some shifts in tone here and there that don’t quite line up, the fate of these people and the ordeal they go through is riveting enough to carry the movie to an ending that some folks may find irritating (because it all but advertises the sequel, ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,’ which is due out next January).
There are three outstanding performances in ’28 Years Later.’ The first is by Alfie Williams, making his motion picture debut as Spike. This is really Spike’s story, a chronicle of his passage from brave but still nervous boy into a stronger, more resilient, more mature warrior, and Williams handles it with confidence, charisma, and a lack of standard child actor tricks.
Next is Jodie Comer, whose Isla takes more of a central role in the film’s second half as she and Spike venture onto the mainland. Her body and mind wracked by her illness, Isla is trying to break through the fog that envelops her even as her memories splinter and merge. The excellent Comer portrays all this with great empathy and a tragic nobility, showing us why she’s one of the best actors to emerge in recent years.
And then there’s Ralph Fiennes, whose Dr. Kelson seems genuinely eccentric and bizarrely funny when we first meet him, but who deepens into a figure of great compassion and dignity even if he walks around coated in iodine (“the Rage Virus doesn’t like it at all,” he notes). Fiennes brings his effortless gravitas to a role that could have been a stock nutty survivalist but is instead imbued with humanity and grace. His bone temple is a “memento mori,” a remembrance of the dead, that has a stark beauty all its own, and Fiennes’ work reflects that.
As for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, he’s fine. Sturdy, fearless, rugged, Jamie is a pillar of the community, a loving but tough dad, and unfortunately a flawed man who loses the trust of his son. But the character is not as deeply portrayed as the others, and largely sits out the second half of the movie. The other notable player is Edvin Ryding as Erik, a Swedish soldier who gets trapped on the mainland and spends some time with Spike and Isla. Ryding provides some welcome comic relief as he describes modern conveniences in the outside world that Spike has no idea exist – and gets a big laugh when she shows Spike a photo of his cosmetically enhanced girlfriend, whose filler-boosted face remains Spike of a friend’s allergic reaction to shellfish.
Like ’28 Days Later,’ and unlike, say, the socio-politically minded zombie films of George A. Romero, ’28 Years Later’ shies away from sociological or political themes. Yet there is something here about the way that societies crumble so quickly and yet take so long to reform, as well as the way in which humans can fall so rapidly into savagery. There are tantalizing questions raised about who or what else lives on the mainland, as well as what exactly is going on in the outside world, some of which will perhaps be answered in ‘The Bone Temple’ or a third film.
But what these films do continue to be about – aside from Boyle and Garland providing audiences with an intense, heart-pounding experience from start to finish – is the way in which individual human beings will strive to be kind and do good even among the most horrific of circumstances. Whether it’s in 28 days, 28 weeks, or 28 years, this is a message that bears repeating.
Y0yVDDumuqttYGuM5pF7c
What is the plot of ’28 Years Later’?
It’s been almost three decades since the Rage Virus escaped a bioweapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. When one of a group of survivors leaves their heavily defended island on a mission to the mainland, he discovers horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.
Cillian Murphy in 2002’s ’28 Days Later.’ Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Preview:
Cillian Murphy is not in new zombie outing ‘28 Years Later.’
One of the infected who looks a little like him shows up in the trailer.
Murphy is a producer behind the scenes.
We know him these days as the ‘Oppenheimer’ Oscar winner and star of the popular ‘Peaky Blinders’ crime series out of the UK (which itself has a big screen version on the way), but back in 2002, Cillian Murphy had a few film and TV credits to his name but broke out in a big way thanks to Danny Boyle’s horror thriller ‘28 Days Later,’ which drew praise for its inventive take on the zombie genre (more on that below), its guerilla filming style and intensity.
The movie spawned a sequel, 2007’s ‘28 Weeks Later,’ but Murphy didn’t return for that one, nor did Boyle or writer Alex Garland, aside from being executive producers.
Fast-forward a good few years to now and Boyle is back, alongside Garland (who has since gone on to enjoy a healthy directing career himself) for a new planned trilogy kicking off later this year with ‘28 Years Later.’ And following the launch of the first teaser trailer a few weeks ago speculation has been rife that Murphy shows up as a skeletally thin member of the infected.
Y0yVDDumuqttYGuM5pF7c
When in fact… it’s not him.
Producer Andrew Macdonald confirmed to Empire that the shambling creature is, in fact, not played by Murphy:
“On this, we wanted him to be involved and he wanted to be involved. He is not in the first film, but I’m hoping there will be some Jim somewhere along the line. He’s involved at the moment as an executive producer, and I would hope we can work with him in some way in the future in the trilogy.”
As for Boyle, he told the film magazine that his partner warned him of the similarity…
“I showed my girlfriend the trailer and she said, ‘People will think that’s Cillian.’ I said, ‘Don’t be silly.’ I ignored her. So I’ve eaten a bit of humble pie since.”
What’s the story of ‘28 Days Later’?
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in ’28 Years Later’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
‘28 Days Later’ sees Murphy starring as Jim, a bike courier who has been in an accident and awakens from a coma to discover that London –– and the rest of the UK–– has been overtaken by a virus that turns its victims into rage-filled monsters who savage their victims.
While the “Z” word is never used, the Infected, for all their fast speed, are certainly a take on the genre.
‘28 Weeks Later’, which was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, picked up the story months later as the country is slowly cleared of the infected, with evacuated civilians returning –– even as the danger persists.
As the title suggests, ‘28 Years Later’ will then spin the clock forward nearly three decades to see what life is like for the people who are making a go of living in the country –– and the fact that while the Infected are still a threat, the original movie’s theme of man’s inhumanity to man, even in the case of a unifying situation, also emerges.
Cillian Murphy in 2002’s ’28 Days Later.’ Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
After the internet lit up with chatter about the Infected in the trailer looking strikingly like Murphy, British art director Angus Neill told the UK’s Guardian newspaper that he’s behind the prosthetic:
“Danny told me he’d always had me in mind for the role. So we met up, hit it off, and I agreed to take part. On set he has an extraordinary ability to hypnotize you and working with him on the film was a very, very intense experience.”
You can see Neill’s professional Instagram listing here:
While Sony Pictures has yet to officially comment, Neill certainly looks the part.
Where can I see Cillian Murphy, then?
Cillian Murphy in ‘Peaky Blinders’. Photo: Netflix.
It’s not like Murphy is hurting for work –– he was in demand even before Christopher Nolan directed him to an Academy Award.
Murphy was most recently seen in indie title ‘Small Things Like These,’ which itself is drawing some awards attention.
He will be back on our screens in the aforementioned ‘Peaky Blinders’ movie for Netflix, reprising the role of crime boss Tommy Shelby. The film has yet to confirm a launch date.
Then there’s comedy drama ‘Steve,’ in which he plays the titular headteacher who is battling for his reform college’s survival while managing his mental health.
Finally, he’s attached to star in based-on-truth crime/mining drama ‘Blood Runs Coal.’
When will ‘28 Years Later’ be in theaters?
‘28 Years Later’ is currently scheduled to infect theaters on June 20th.
DaCosta’s ‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,’ meanwhile, will follow on January 16th, 2026.
(L to R) Rose Byrne and Jeremy Renner in ’28 Weeks Later’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes are starring in ‘28 Years Later’
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are behind the new movie.
Sony is distributing the movie, the start of a trilogy of films.
After many years in the wild weeds of speculation and rumor, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland finally confirmed that they’re getting back to the world they created with 2002’s ‘28 Days Later’ for a brand new follow-up called ‘28 Years Later’.
And far from just making one movie, their plan is actually to launch a trilogy, with Garland writing all three and Boyle directing the first. The initial round of casting has begun with Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes joining the movie per Deadline.
Y0yVDDumuqttYGuM5pF7c
What’s the story of the ‘28 Days Later’ movies?
Cillian Murphy in 2002’s ’28 Days Later.’ Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
2002’s original movie saw Cillian Murphy playing Jim, a bicycle courier left in a coma after an accident. He awakes nearly a month later to discover London and the wider world have gone to hell after animal rights activists released a chimp infected with a virulent, genetically engineered plague that has spread to the population, leaving the city near deserted and haunted by roving packs of the rage-driven ‘infected’.
That was followed by ‘28 Weeks Later’ in 2007, which saw Juan Carlos Fresnadillo taking over directorial duties, with Boyle and Garland stepping back to be executive producers. The sequel is set as American forces arrive to help clean up Britain, civilians caught in the crossfire between soldiers and the remaining infected.
While the plot of the new movie is being kept under wraps for now, the title points to picking up the story decades after the original and seeing what has happened to the country since then. We’re guessing nothing good, but with Boyle and Garland involved, it’ll be entertaining finding out.
Who are the new actors playing?
(L to R) Bryan Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson star in Sony’s ‘Bullet Train.’ Photo: Scott Garfield.
As with the story info, we don’t yet know who the three new actors will be doing in the movie –– but they’re interesting nonetheless, since the 2002 entry was largely cast with rising stars and a few veterans sprinkled into the mix.
While Comer and Taylor-Johnson aren’t exactly veterans, they’re well established –– and that goes without saying for Fiennes.
What’s happening with the ‘28 Years Later’ trilogy?
‘The Marvels’ director Nia DeCosta.
With Boyle taking on the first movie, the plan is for him to direct it this year and for production of the second to kick off once the first has wrapped to ensure continuity of storytelling while each director will bring their visual stamp to their movie.
Nia DaCosta may direct the second ‘28 Years Later’ movie.
Director Danny Boyle and writer Andrew Garland are overseeing the extended horror franchise.
The movie continues the story started in ‘2002’s 28 Days Later’.
Back in January, we learned that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland had finally started putting concrete plans in place to craft another follow up to zombie movie ‘28 Days Later’, after years of speculation.
Things have moved on since that initial news –– Sony Pictures has agreed to finance and distribute what is now planned as a trilogy of films, and Nia DaCosta, who has made the likes of ‘Little Woods’, 2019’s ‘Candyman’ and last year’s ‘The Marvels’, is in talks to direct the second movie in the three-film series.
xVYBEPVKcFV9P7QWW9OM77
What’s the story of the ‘28 Days Later’ films so far?
Cillian Murphy in 2002’s ’28 Days Later.’ Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Released in 2002, ’28 Days Later’ starred Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier Jim, who wakes up from a coma to discover that London –– and the world –– has been overtaken by a virus that turns its victims into rage-filled monsters who savage their victims.
While the “Z” word is never used, the Infected, for all their fast speed are certainly a take on the zombie genre.
‘28 Days Later’ was followed directly by 2007’s ‘28 Weeks Later’, which was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, with Boyle and Garland only involved as executive producers.
The plot for ‘28 Years Later’ being kept under wraps for now, the title points to picking up the story decades after the original and seeing what has happened to the UK since then.
(Right) Director Alex Garland on the set of ‘Civil War.’ Photo: A24.
As of right now, the plan appears to be for Garland –– who, since the original, has gone on to quite the filmmaking career himself –– to write and produce all three movies.
Boyle, who is also a producer, is aboard to direct the first movie in the new trilogy.
According to Deadline’s new report, if DaCosta does indeed sign on, the strategy is for her to closely liaise with both Boyle and Garland so as to keep the storytelling consistent between all the movies, while also being given the freedom to put her own stamp on the look of the movie.
Murphy, who has yet to confirm whether he’ll appear in front of the camera, is certainly attached to be an executive producer on this one.
When will the first movie of the new ‘28 Years Later’ trilogy be in theaters?
With shooting taking aim at later this year, we don’t see this one releasing much before late 2025 at the earliest.
Cillian Murphy in 2002’s ’28 Days Later.’ Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Preview:
‘28 Years Later’ will pick up the story of the classic horror pic.
Boyle will direct with Garland writing.
The aim is to launch a new trilogy.
Back in 2002, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland breathed new life into the zombie genre by creating ‘28 Days Later’, which saw Cillian Murphy starring as a man who wakes up from a coma to discover that London –– and the world –– has been overtaken by a virus that turns its victims into rage-filled monsters who savage their victims.
While the “Z” word is never used, the Infected, for all their fast speed are certainly a take on the genre.
‘28 Days Later’ was followed directly by 2007’s ‘28 Weeks Later’, which was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, with Boyle and Garland only involved as executive producers.
Now, though, after years of the filmmaking pair talking up the idea of another sequel to the original, it appears they’ve officially come up with a concept they like.
14559
What’s happening with the new ‘28 Days Later’ sequel?
Cillian Murphy in 2002’s ’28 Days Later.’ Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Boyle and Garland are now ready to pitch a movie called ‘28 Years Later’. While the plot is being kept under wraps for now, the title points to picking up the story decades after the original and seeing what has happened to the country since then. We’re guessing nothing good, but with Boyle and Garland involved, it’ll be entertaining finding out.
As of right now, the plan is for Boyle to direct the new movie and Garland to write it. And it’s not just an idea for one movie –– the pair has plans to make a new trilogy based on the concept with Garland writing all three and a planned $75 million budget per movie. Given that his own filmmaking career has evolved since then (his latest movie as a director, ‘Civil War’ is out this April), there’s a chance Garland might step up to direct one of the others.
As of right now, Garland and Boyle are, via their agency WME, pitching the idea to studios and streamers, so we’d expect there to be plenty of interest given the known concept and the fact that the people behind the original movie are once more involved.
Who knows –– if this one is a success, we could see yet another resurgence for the genre, which could use some new ideas after years of ‘The Walking Dead’.
What’s next for Boyle and Garland?
Boyle is working on an action-adventure short film called ‘Methuselah’, while, as mentioned, Garland’s ‘Civil War’ will be in theaters on April 26th.
