28 Years Later will bring the terrifying rage virus back into our lives, but we still don't know exactly when to expect it.
The movie was officially confirmed in January 2024 with Boyle directing and Alex Garland also returning to write the threequel. The duo worked together on 28 Days Later, but only served as executive producers on sequel 28 Weeks Later.
We might be waiting for a release date, but ahead of filming starting later this year, the movie has been assembling a very exciting cast.
What's more, 28 Years Later will mark the start of a new trilogy of movies set in this world. The sequel will again be written by Garland, but Boyle will only be a producer with Nia DaCosta set to direct.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, here's everything you need to know about the long-awaited 28 Years Later.
28 Years Later potential release date: When is 28 Years Later released?
Even though we know it's happening, 28 Years Later does not yet have a confirmed release date as of May 2024.
According to Deadline, the movie is planned to start filming later this year and the sequel is set to be filmed back-to-back with the first movie.
Hopefully, that points to a late 2025 release in cinemas for 28 Years Later, in line with the first movie which was released in UK cinemas in November 2002. The sequel was released in May 2007, so don't rule out an early summer 2026 release either.
Right now, we'll just have to wait and see.
Is Cillian Murphy going to be in 28 Years Later?
We've got good news and bad news. Cillian Murphy is involved with the new movie, but not currently set to star in it.
Murphy will act as an executive producer on 28 Years Later and nothing has been confirmed as to whether he'll reprise his role as Jim. He didn't return for the sequel due to other commitments, but Jim was still alive at the end of the first movie.
Jim's return seems unlikely with the new movie set so long after the first movie, but it sounds like he could be persuaded if they find a way.
"I can't give much more at this point. But I've always said I would love to be involved because that movie changed everything for me and I have I have great affection for it and for those guys Alex and Danny," he said in February 2024.
"I never watch my own films, except that one. It's always on around Halloween and during the pandemic people were constantly sending me clips. And I've shown it to my kids. And it's really stood up, even though it's something like 23 years old now.
"So I'm really thrilled that we'll get the band back together to [make] this one."
28 Years Later cast: Who's in 28 Years Later?
While we don't know whether Cillian Murphy is back as Jim, we do know that 28 Years Later has some major names already attached.
Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes were the first names to have signed up to the movie, although we haven't had any character details yet. We also don't know whether the trio will be seen in all three planned movies or just the first one.
In May 2024, Jack O'Connell joined the cast and, according to Deadline, he's set to play a supporting role in the first movie before taking a lead role on in the sequel.
As with Murphy, we'll wait and see whether any of the surviving characters from 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later return in the new movie.
Imogen Poots, who played Tammy in 28 Weeks Later, certainly seems keen for a return. "I loved working with that group of people, I mean, I'd jump at that," she said in March 2024, although she did point out a potential flaw:
"But I'm confused because if it's years later, then I suppose with a zombie apocalypse, everyone gets free Botox, because otherwise we're all going to be looking ancient, right?"
28 Years Later plot: What will 28 Years Later be about?
Boyle and Garland are keeping quiet about what 28 Years Later will be about, other than the fact we can tell from the title it's set... 28 years later.
28 Weeks Later ended with the rage virus spreading to France and beyond, so expect to see a whole new world in the movie. We can also expect to see the three movies connected by one story, rather than be standalone stories like the first two movies.
"A whole idea for a trilogy just sort of came – bing! – into my head," Garland told The Guardian in March 2024.
He's also revealed a surprise inspiration for the first movie: Ken Loach's 1969 coming-of-age masterpiece Kes.
"I've just written and delivered a script for Danny Boyle which is 28 Years Later. We made a film well over 20 years ago, 28 Days Later, and when I wrote 28 Days Later, one of the things I did was rip off a novel called Day of the Triffids," he told Alamo Drafthouse.
"In the film script I delivered to Danny, what I did was I ripped off this film called Kes. A very unexpected thing to rip off in a zombie movie. The script I've delivered and Kes both are focused around the experience of a young lad."
Garland added that 28 Years Later also shares similarities with Kes with "slightly more subtle things to do with landscape and humans and nature".
Mostly though, it's the young lead character, so expect to maybe see the entire trilogy focus on this character. We just don't know who that is right now as it doesn't sound like the role for any of the announced cast yet.
28 Years Later trailer: Is there a 28 Years Later trailer yet?
Sadly, we don't have anything to show you yet. 28 Years Later has yet to start filming, so we'll be waiting a while for the first trailer.
28 Years Later does not yet have a release date.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
