28 Days Later director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland have finally reunited to make a sequel to their zombie (or, if you prefer, infected people) movie classic. As we reported earlier this year, this sequel is set up at Sony, is going to be called 28 Years Later, and it’s meant to launch a whole trilogy of 28 Days Later sequels. The theatrical release date is June 20th, 2025 – and in anticipation of that release, JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray, who gave the film a 7/10 review that can be read at THIS LINK, had the chance to sit down for an interview with cast members Jodie Comer (The Bikeriders), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (The Fall Guy), and Alfie Williams (His Dark Materials)! The full interview is coming soon, but for now, you can check out a clip in the embed above. In this clip, Williams and Comer give an answer to the question of why they think the zombie subgenre of horror has such an enduring popularity. Part of Comer’s answer: “I think there’s probably part of all of us that thinks this could happen, but we deny, we like to say, ‘No, this is just the movies, right? Right?’“
The actors mentioned above are joined in the cast of the film by Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) and Erin Kellyman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). Plot details were being kept under wraps for a while, but when 28 Years Later came up during an interview with IndieWire, Fiennes decided to go ahead and tell us all about it: “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. But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.“
Now we have an official synopsis to go by as well: Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle and Academy Award-nominated writer Alex Garland reunite for 28 Years Later, a terrifying new story set in the world created by 28 Days Later. 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.
Thanks to their deal with Sony, each of these new films will be receiving a theatrical release and will have budgets in the $60 million range. 28 Years Later has a budget of $75 million. Boyle and Garland are producing 28 Years Later with Bernie Bellew, original producer Macdonald, and Peter Rice, who was the head of Fox Searchlight Pictures when that company backed 28 Days Later. Murphy is executive producing.
Garland also wrote the screenplays for the sequels that will come after 28 Years Later. Of the two 28 Years Later projects currently in the works, Boyle directed the first one, then passed the helm over to Candyman and The Marvels director Nia DaCosta for the sequel, titled 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple. The second film has already wrapped production. Boyle might circle back to direct 28 Years Later Part III, but that one doesn’t have a full greenlight yet.
Are you looking forward to 28 Years Later, and do you agree with Jodie Comer that many of us think a zombie apocalypse really could happen? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
