28 Years Later has started filming ahead of its release in cinemas next summer, ending a long wait for the third movie.
Sony has confirmed that the terrifying rage virus will be back in cinemas in June 2025, with filming underway on the new movie.
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.
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 release date: When is 28 Years Later released?
28 Years Later will be released in UK and US cinemas on June 20, 2025 assuming that there aren’t any delays.
Filming has been underway on the new movie since May 2024 and is ongoing. We don’t know when filming is scheduled to end, but let’s hope everything is on track for that June 2025 release.
Back in April 2024, Deadline reported that the sequel is set to be filmed back-to-back with the first movie, so we assume that’s still the case.
Is Cillian Murphy going to be in 28 Years Later?
We’ve got good news and even better news. Cillian Murphy is involved with the new movie both in-front and behind the camera.
Since the movie was announced, we knew that Murphy would act as an executive producer on 28 Years Later. It was then confirmed by Sony boss Tim Rothman in May 2024 that Murphy would reprise his role as Jim.
Rothman teased that Jim is back “in a surprising way and in a way that grows”, so we’ll wait and see what that means.
Murphy 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 had seemed unlikely with the new movie set so long after the first movie, so it could well be that we only see him in flashbacks. All we can do is watch this space for now to see how Jim returns.
28 Years Later cast: Who’s in 28 Years Later?
Alongside Murphy’s return as Jim, 28 Years Later has some major new names 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.
They’ve since been joined by Erin Kellyman, but it’s unclear whether she’ll just be in 28 Years Later or will also play a part in its sequel.
We’ll wait and see whether any of the surviving characters from 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later will return in the new movie alongside Jim.
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.
We do know though that Comer’s character is a Geordie and she’s been preparing for the role by watching clips of Cheryl on The X Factor.
28 Years Later trailer: Is there a 28 Years Later trailer yet?
Sadly, we don’t have anything to show you yet even though 28 Years Later has started filming. We might have to wait until early 2025 to see any footage, but we’d be happy to be proved wrong.
28 Years Later is released in cinemas on June 20, 2025.
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.
