Now officially less than six months away from release, the marketing campaign for 28 Years Later has begun, which has included stars and crew members speaking out about their roles in the film. One creative who has been particularly vocal is scribe Alex Garland, who also penned the script for the original 28 Days Later starring Cillian Murphy. However, Garland nor director Danny Boyle were on the creative team for the Jeremy Renner-led sequel, 28 Weeks Later, although they did serve as producers on the film. During the most recent Empire print issue, Garland and producer Andrew Macdonald addressed whether the ending of 28 Weeks Later, which sees the infected running through Paris to prove that the virus has spread outside the UK, plays into 28 Years Later, and he wasted no time shutting that theory down:
Alex Garland: Covid was not in my mind because it was too recent and too present, but Brexit was. [Especially how the rest of the world began to view the UK.] A sense of the globe just sort of shifting its position. Turning their backs, not really looking in this direction. Not really giving a shit [about the UK].
Andrew Macdonald: Nothing is allowed into Britain and nothing is allowed out. Britain has paused.
Garland: [28 Years Later] is not in conflict with [28 Weeks Later, but] “canon” [is] not a very Danny Boyle word.
Macdonald: It’s not mapped out like a scientific formula.
The original 28 Days Later is one of the most acclaimed horror movies of all-time, and the film has become a cult classic in the 22 years since its release. It earned scores of 87% from critics and 85% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, both of which are higher than the sequel’s 72% score from critics and 66% rating from audiences on the aggregate site. One of the more intriguing parts of the 28 Days Later franchise is the virus being largely contained to the UK, with other parts of the world being relatively unaffected, which is why the ending of 28 Weeks Later was so controversial. Fortunately for fans who weren’t hot on 28 Weeks Later, it sounds like Boyle and Garland have gone back to their own ideas and largely disregarded the idea that the virus was spreading outside the UK.
Is Cillian Murphy in ‘28 Years Later’?
While it was initially reported that Cillian Murphy would reprise his role as Jim in 28 Years Later, a recent interview poured cold water all over the prospect of Murphy’s return to arguably his most iconic role. It was revealed several weeks ago that Murphy would not appear in 28 Years Later, but that it was possible for him to appear in a future film in the trilogy. The next chance for Murphy’s Jim to show up will come in Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which will release on January 16, 2026.
28 Years Later hits theaters on June 20 later this year. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates and coverage of the film and buy or rent 28 Days Later on Prime Video.
