It’s taken more than two decades for Danny Boyle to return to his 28 Days Later franchise, and he’s made sure it won’t be short visit. While we knew he’d direct the first film, 28 Years Later, as part of a trilogy shared with Candyman director Nia DaCosta, it wasn’t clear that Boyle would return for the third movie. Well, now we know that he will.
Empire confirmed through Boyle himself that he’ll direct the third movie, which follows 28 Years Later and the DaCosta-directed sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple which opens on January 16th 2026. The first two movies have already been shot back-to-back, while the final one goes into production only if audiences respond well.
Here are some details Empire revealed about the first movie:
Here, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Jamie, Jodie Comer’s Isla, and their 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) are part of a community on Holy Island, aka Lindisfarne, connected to the UK mainland by a causeway only briefly accessible when the tide recedes each day. “It’s a closed and necessarily very tight community,” says Boyle. “There are very strict defence laws, obviously, to survive that long in what is effectively an ongoing hostile environment. They’ve created a successful community, as they see it.” It soon comes time for young Spike to take a rite-of-passage trip beyond the safety of Lindisfarne, to open his eyes to the true state of the nation. Needless to say, things don’t go to plan.
Speaking of plans, Cillian Murphy, who starred in the original 2002 film, won’t be reprising that role despite early reports to the contrary. Producer Andrew Macdonald said…
“[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.”
That leaves the door open to seeing him in the third movie. But for now we’ll have to settle for Murphy as an exec-producer.
28 Years Later hits theaters on June 20th.
