In just a few short months, Danny Boyle is set to return to the world of horror with 28 Years Later, a sequel to his 2002 genre-defining zombie flick 28 Days Later – and we can hardly wait.
With the ravaged world having moved on from the likes of Cillian Murphy's Jim (for now) and Robert Carlyle's Don, the movie will introduce a bunch of new characters, as they try to navigate an apocalyptic Britain. While the gritty original was an intimate exploration of four Londoners trying to evade bloodthirsty brutes as they travel north, its more action-heavy follow-up – the Juan Carlos Fresnadillo-helmed 28 Weeks Later – saw NATO and the US military try to take control of the UK when the infected start to die of starvation.
The new film looks to be offering up something different yet again, as it centers a father, mother, and son who lose one another after they're forced to travel to the dangerous mainland when their heavily defended island is compromised. So far, we've only seen one trailer, which keeps its cards close to its chest in the way of plot, but that doesn't mean the eagerly anticipated flick is a complete mystery...
Below, we run through all the details about 28 Years Later out there so far, from its release date and cast to exciting teases from those behind the scenes. We've also recapped 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, in case you want your memory jogged before diving back into the franchise. So scroll on to discover all you need to know about 28 Years Later...
28 Years Later release date
28 Years Later is currently slated to release in cinemas on June 20. It was shot back-to-back with its sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, so we suspect that the next installment – directed by Candyman's Nia DaCosta – won't be too far behind.
There's a third film in the pipeline after that, too, with Boyle stepping back in to cap off the trilogy. It's subtitle has yet to be revealed, which is hardly surprising, really, given that Boyle previously explained to Empire magazine that Sony Pictures wants to see how well the first film does before it officially greenlights production.
"This is very narratively ambitious. Danny and I understood that," added writer Alex Garland, who penned the first film. "We tried to condense it, but its natural form felt like a trilogy."
"You just don't get to do a story on this scale in this country," producer Andrew Macdonald told the same publication. "To do something in Britain that feels like it has [size], it's great."
28 Years Later trailer
We got our first look at 28 Years Later back in December 2024 – but despite its two-minute (and seven seconds) runtime, it's pretty cryptic. It opens with a bunch of children watching Teletubbies in a dated-looking terraced house, as the clip explains, "It began 10,228 days ago. Days became weeks."
The footage then shows us a wide shot of an isolated island, before we see a creepy scarecrow with an arrow through its "head", a bunch of memorial crosses, and a young man steering a horse and a cart. "Weeks became years," the text continues ominously, as it cuts to illustrated posters of "roles in our community" such as seamster, lookout, and councillor.
We get shots of the island's watch tower and armory as two characters pass through its heavily guarded gates and start walking the causeway between the island and mainland England. It all gets a bit a later-season Walking Dead after that, as it follows the characters – armed with bows and arrows – through fields, abandoned farmyards, and infected-ridden sewer systems.
"Next summer, what will humanity become... 28 Years Later?" it asks right at the end. Watch it above.
28 Years Later cast
Like its predecessors, 28 Years Later boasts a small but mighty cast, with Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes all having lead roles. So far, we know that Comer is playing a woman named Isla, with Johnson portraying her husband, Jamie. Alfie Williams brings their son, Spike, to life, while Sinners' Jack O'Connell, Young Royals' Edvin Ryding, The Brutalist's Emma Laird, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's Erin Kellyman are confirmed to be supporting players – though their characters have yet to be revealed. (Oh, and art dealer-turned-actor Angus Neill plays an 'Emaciated Man' succumbed to the Rage Virus)
While he won't appear in 28 Years Later, Cillian Murphy is expected to have an on-screen part in its sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
28 Years Later plot
"It's been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well," reads 28 Years Later's official synopsis.
Judging by the trailer, we can assume the "he" mentioned there is Johnson's Jamie.
At the end of 28 Weeks Later, it was teased that the Rage Virus had spread to Europe, with a French person calling for help through the radio in Flynn's abandoned helicopter and shots of zombies emerging from the Metro in Paris. Interestingly, however, Empire recently reported that 28 Years Later suggests countries outside of Britain "remain relatively unaffected".
The teaser certainly doesn't offer up any glimpses at life outside of the UK, so the statement looks to check out. Either way, we're interested to see how Boyle backtracks on 28 Weeks' stinger.
"It's a closed and necessarily very tight community," Boyle told the publication, which might go some way to explaining it. "There are very strict defense laws, obviously, to survive that long in what is effectively an ongoing hostile environment. They've created a successful community, as they see it."
28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later recap
Released in 2002, 28 Days Later was inspired by The Night of the Living Dead and The Day of the Triffids. It opens with a group of animal rights activists breaking into a research facility in Cambridge, with the hopes of releasing its unfortunate test suspects, a bunch of chimpanzees. Despite one scientist's desperate pleas for them not to open the cages, they do, and realize too late that the chimpanzees have been exposed to a substance that makes them highly aggressive – and the virus that's made them murderous is highly contagious. One activist is attacked by a chimpanzee and changes immediately, lashing out at her former pals as the scientist insists they kill her to prevent an epidemic. They don't listen and the infected activist savages the others as the chimps look on.
Four weeks later, Cillian Murphy's courier Jim wakes up from a coma, having been knocked off his bike prior to the outbreak. He quickly realizes that the hospital he's in is deserted and wanders out into central London, finding it ransacked and similarly void of people. He passes a church full of the dead then runs into a horde of infected, before being rescued by fellow survivors Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley).
At Jim's request, the trio travel to Deptford to check in on his family, but on their arrival, they learn that Jim's mother and father have died by suicide, having left him a note that wishes he never wakes to experience the horror of the new world. At the house, Mark is bitten, but Selena hacks him to death before he can turn.
They head back into London after spotting a makeshift signal on a high-rise in Poplar and meet cab driver Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). They hole up there for a while before setting off to Manchester, after Frank catches wind of a sanctuary up north. Their travels are intercepted by a bunch of soldiers, though, who execute a newly-infected Frank and kidnap the others, taking them to their fortified mansion in the country. Before long, Jim discovers that the soldiers have been luring female survivors into sexual slavery, having tricked them with the promise of food and protection.
Jim is horrified and teams up with repentant Sergeant Farrell (Stuart McQuarrie) to kill the soldiers' twisted leader Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston), which they pull off by releasing the infected private he's been keeping chained up in the courtyard – though Farrell is killed in the chaos.
Convinced it's only Britain that's been overrun by zombies, Jim, Selena, and Hannah escape to a remote farm in Cumbria, and before long, they notice that the infected nearby have started dying from starvation. The film ends with the trio trying to get the attention of a Hawker Hunter plane flying overhead, with a huge cloth banner that spells out "hello" on the hills. While they can't be certain on the ground, the film makes clear that the pilot spots them, which explains how Jim is set to appear in The Bone Temple.
Released in 2007, 28 Weeks Later picks up seven months later, though it kicks off with a flashback to the outbreak. In the cold open, Robert Carlyle's Don selfishly abandons his wife when a bunch of infected descend upon their cottage on the outskirts of London.
In the present day, the US military is seen taking control of Britain under Brigadier General Stone (Idris Elba). Among the refugees and settlers they're handling are Don and Alice's children, Tammy and Andy, who have been out of the country. The siblings are taken to District One, a well-protected safe zone on the Isle of Dogs, where they reunite with their father, who lies about their mother's presumed death.
One night, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) sneak out of the safe zone and travel to their family home, with the mission to collect old photographs as memories of the before times, but are followed by Sergeant Doyle (Jeremy Renner). There, they find Alice (Catherine McCormack) in a delirious, semi-conscious state, before being carted back to District One. Alice is placed in quarantine and undergoes tests carried out by medical officer and asymptomatic carrier Scarlet (Rose Byrne).
Don disobeys orders and enters Alice's room, where she lashes out at him for leaving her behind and kisses him. Don immediately succumbs to the Rage Virus and kills Alice, before more and more refugees and soldiers start getting infected. Scarlet and Doyle whisk Tammy and Andy away from the rapidly escalating chaos, suspecting that their DNA might hold the key to a cure, as the Air Force firebombs the camp. Don escapes into a desolate London, while the survivors head to Wembley Stadium – though they lose Doyle, who's attacked by American soldiers with flamethrowers, on the way. The others pivot to the London Underground, but run into Don, who kills Scarlet and bites Andy. Tammy kills Don, as it's revealed Andy is immune in the same way his mother was.
Tammy and Andy make it to the stadium, where a helicopter pilot named Flynn (Harold Perrineau) reluctantly agrees to fly them to France.
For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming horror movies heading our way.
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