Director Danny Boyle has discussed how Britain’s most iconic tree features in 28 Years Later — despite the movie being shot more than a year after vandals chopped it down.
Boyle’s post-apocalyptic 28 Days Later film series has always included a heavy focus on British culture, and new entry 28 Years Later is no different, with references to the children’s classic TV show The Teletubbies and a particularly notorious cultural figure who is best left behind a sizable spoiler warning.
But as British fans of the series flock to see the film, one other notable inclusion that’s been spotted is the tree at Sycamore Gap — an iconic location in the English countryside that dominated national headlines when the tree was illegally felled.
For those unfamiliar, the 150-year-old Sycamore Gap tree was positioned in a photogenic tourist hotspot in the northern English county of Northumberland, next to an ancient Roman structure, Hadrian’s Wall, that once divided the country from Scotland.
The tree gained particular fame from being featured in the 1991 Kevin Costner classic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves — with some dubbing the sycamore as ‘the Robin Hood tree’ as a result.
In the early hours of September 28, 2023, the tree was cut down in an act deemed by police to be “deliberate vandalism.” Two men in their 30s who filmed themselves felling the tree on their mobile phones were later arrested and charged with causing £623,335 worth of criminal damage to both the tree itself and Hadrian’s Wall, upon which the sycamore had fallen. Both have since been found guilty, but await sentencing.
Now, the tree lives again, in the alternate world of 28 Years Later. Speaking to IGN, Boyle said that the inclusion of the Sycamore Gap tree was “obviously one of the pleasures you have in a film like this. Like, for instance, the community would not be aware the Queen had died… You get oppurtunities to plant little Easter eggs like that.
“Who knows what would have happened to the Queen in an apocalypse. Presumably the leaders, as they’re seen, would be airlifted out and protected, that’s tended to be what happens. So maybe they imagine she still fondly rules in name from the continent.”
Speaking to Sky News, Boyle revealed how the film had brought the iconic sycamore back to life.
“It had already been destroyed by the time we came to film, so we recreated it for the same reasons that you see the Queen in this,” Boyle said, “all the things that have happened to us in the last 28 years have not happened.”
Much of 28 Years Later was filmed in Northumberland, so Boyle said that resurrecting the tree — “one of their most beautiful icons” — was a “real privilege which we felt we couldn’t ignore.”
“We’ve recreated it deliberately to say that it was still growing,” he concluded, “which is a wonderful tribute.”
So, despite all the horrible things going on in the world of 28 Years Later, at least there’s one thing that’s better than the real version of 2025. Fancy a catch up on the series? 28 Days Later is currently streaming free. Looking to theorise on what 28 Years Later’s bizarre ending means for the series? We’ve got thoughts on that too.
Image credit: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
