Well, we shouldn’t expect a Red Eye sequel, but Cillian Murphy made waves this year by coming home to two of his juggernauts. Those would include not only a Peaky Blinders movie but also the 28 Years Later franchise. Danny Boyle has returned to direct the first of an upcoming trilogy of movies about the rage virus’ effects, and Alex Garland is hitting the screenwriting hard. This team’s return to old stomping grounds, so to speak, is proof that the stars can align to reprise dream projects again together.
All three of these creatives have gone on to their own incredible individual careers, and this certainly wasn’t Cillian’s first film, but it’s the one where his haunted portrayal of emerging in abandoned London put him on the map. Heck, Batman Begins and Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan told Cillian that “your shaved head and your crazy eyes” are what made him “very excited about the idea of meeting you, and having you screen test for Batman.” And the rest is cinematic history with Cillian returning to the 28 Days Later franchise alongside Boyle and Garland. Let’s talk about what to expect when they make more rage-magic happen.
Trailer
Before we get to plot specifics, Sony Pictures Entertainment has gone into overdrive with goodies. Those include a masterful trailer that ratchets up tension to the sound of Rudyard Kipling’s “Boots” with a terrified Aaron Taylor-Johnson. And they probably knew what they were doing by dropping in a zombie ^^^ with cheekbones that happen to resemble those of Cillian Murphy:
Did Jim catch the rage virus? If so, that isn’t him in the trailer. Despite endless speculation on that subject (which contributed to making this the second-most-streamed horror trailer in history) and cheekbone resemblance, an art dealer and model, Angus Neill, has come forward to claim that role, according to The Guardian: “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.”
So there. Zombie Cillian is not featured in the 28 Years Later trailer, which is obviously good news, but we also haven’t seen Cillian yet, so he’s top secret, and nobody is officially talking yet about how Jim reenters the story. He has survived since the Rage Virus first hit, and since the infected are fast movers, it’s hard to imagine how his psyche has been handling constant fight-or-flight for 28 damn years. Or whether Jim will even survive the next movie.
Also, a new poster warns, “Time didn’t heal anything.”
Plot
Sony has kept fairly quiet on specific plot details, but we do know that 28 Years Later is part of an upcoming trilogy. Ralph Fiennes opened up to Indiewire to reveal that two of these films have already been shot, and he added, “Britain is 28 years into this terrible plague of infected people who are violent, rabid humans with a few pockets of uninfected communities. And it centers on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother. He leads his mother through this beautiful northern English terrain. But of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected.”
Fiennes added that the boy finds his character, “a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.” The English Patient actor didn’t reveal whether the “dying mother” in question refers to Jodie Comer’s character, who has been seen running in distress in photos that have circulated around the internet. According to previous reports, her character is 31 one years old, so she was of toddling age when the outbreak began. Comer and other cast members filmed both in Newcastle and an English forest, and she has adopted a Geordie accent for this project.
Candyman reboot helmer Nia DaCosta will direct the second movie, and Boyle will still be onboard as a producer. In any event, expect hell on earth to keep hitting the fan, possibly under the subtitle “Bone Temple.”
Cast
Unseen Cillian Murphy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Jodie Comer lead the cast that includes Ralph Fiennes and Erin Kellyman. Jack O’Connell will appear in a minor part that will move into a lead role for the second film.
Release Date
28 Years Later has been pinpointed for theatrical release on June 20, 2025.
More Trailer-ish Stuff
Since we already dropped the first trailer above, here’s a recent teaser with the biohazard symbol, an island, a freaky scarecrow, and morse code apparently promising “Tuesday,” which referred to the trailer release date:
It’s also worth revisiting a scene that made Cillian famous. That would be the part of the movie where Jim’s realization of the catastrophe has not fully set in amid a hauntingly deserted London. Can Boyle recapture this sense of bleakness in the same way, including in a new setting? We shall see.
