The question of whether or not Cillian Murphy would return a Jim, his 28 Days Later character (and survivor!), in the third film in the series, 28 Years Later, has bounced around online quite a bit, particularly since the film’s trailer last December revealed an “infected” character who some folks thought was played by Murphy.
It turned out that wasn’t Jim at all, and in January one of the film’s producers, Andrew Macdonald, confirmed to EW that Murphy, who is serving as an executive producer on 28 Years Later, would not return to the series in an onscreen capacity… yet. But now director Danny Boyle has outlined the plan for IGN regarding Jim, Cillian, and the new series of films that starts with 28 Years Later.
“Well, it’s three films, a trilogy of films which have connecting characters,” he says, adding that Spike, the 12-year-old boy played by Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later, is central to the new story. “He will run right way through the films. We’ve shot the first two back-to-back, and that was for logistical reasons, actor availability reasons, and for story reasons as well. They’re literally continuous.”
The second film in this new trilogy is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which was directed by Candyman and The Marvels’ Nia DaCosta and produced by Boyle and Alex Garland, who has written each film in the series so far (aside from 2007’s 28 Weeks Later). The Bone Temple is scheduled for release on January 16, 2026, so just seven months after 28 Years Later.
“There’s a coder… it’s not a coder, it’s the epilogue or an end theme at the end of the first film [28 Years Later] that gives you a handover to the second film,” explains Boyle. “Although each story completes itself, there’s a handover section to the next film as well. So it’s very ambitious. We haven’t got the money for the third one yet. It will depend how the first one does, I guess. But hopefully if we do ok, they’ll give us the go-ahead for the money and for the third one. Everybody’s standing by for that, really. Including Cillian.”
So Murphy would be in the third film of the current cycle (the sequel to The Bone Temple) if and when that happens. But Boyle also confirms that the Oscar winner is in The Bone Temple as well, though it remains to be seen how much he’s in it.
“He is in the second one,” says Boyle before smiling. “I shouldn’t give away too much. I’ll get killed.”
As for whether or not he’d come back to direct the third movie, Boyle says “100%.”
“I would love to, yes. God willing, etc., your health maintaining and all that kind of stuff,” he laughs. “But also it depends how the first film does. You might not want me to. You never know. You’ve got to realize that there are plenty of alternatives.”
Ultimately Boyle wants the series to keep pushing the boundaries of the genre that 28 Days Later did 23 years ago.
“You know that thing about sequels, you want to push it on and take huge risks,” he says. “I have to say fair play to [studio Sony Pictures]. They did allow us to take great liberties with [28 Years Later]. They could have said, ‘Oh no, it needs to be more sequel-y. You need to rely on some of the ideas that are in the original. And what do you mean Cillian’s not going to appear in the first one? I thought you said Cillian was going to be in it.’ We said, ‘Yeah, Cillian is going to be in it, but not quite the first one.’ So fair play to them. They’ve put up with a lot.”
28 Years Later, which stars Alfie Williams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and Erin Kellyman, will be released on June 20. While you wait for it, check out Boyle discussing the film’s “big” approach, including the use of 20 iPhones as cameras — all at once! We also talked to the director about the evolution of the infected in 28 Years Later.
