Danny Boyle Is Planning A Whole 28 Years Later Trilogy – Here's Everything He's Said So Far
The latest instalment in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later saga is finally in cinemas, with 28 Years Later pulling us right back into the franchise's post-apocalyptic, rage-infected world nearly three decades on from the events of the first movie.
Starring Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes and newcomer Alfie Williams, the Oscar-winning filmmaker is back in the director's chair (he famously did not helm the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, but stayed on as a producer) to continue the story.
While the first movie starred Cillian Murphy as a hospital patient who wakes up from a coma to find London deserted in the midst of a zombie outbreak (yes, we know, they're not technically 'zombies') the new film revolves around a group of survivors living on an island before one ventures over to the mainland.
With numerous rave reviews landing before the film's official release on Friday, fans of the franchise will be delighted to hear that the Trainspotting director has already expressed his hopes that 28 Years Later will mark the beginning of a brand new trilogy.
A second instalment in the proposed new trilogy is actually coming sooner than you think.
The next film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, was actually filmed back-to-back with the new movie, and is currently slated to come out 16 January 2026. The Marvels writer Nia DaCosta will be directing that one in place of Danny (who is staying on as a producer), with Alex Garland on screenplay duties once again.
The Slumdog Millionaire director explained that 28 Years Later should still be considered a 'standalone film' during a Reddit Ask Me Anything, adding: 'We hope all of the films in the trilogy will be, but also we want all to be seen satisfyingly as a trilogy'.
So far, Danny has shared some key details about the future of the franchise to get us excited in the meantime (including the return of one very special A-lister).
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the director explained that during a bidding war for the film, they were looking for a studio 'who was also prepared to invest in the second film', which had already been written by that point.
The deal eventually went to Sony, and for both logistical and financial reasons, he said it would have been 'insane not to' shoot 28 Years Later and its sequel back-to-back.
However, because the filmmaker was, of course, hard at work on the first, he said it would have been 'impossible' for him to simultaneously shoot the second.
That's why American director Nia DaCosta, known for directing and co-writing both 2023's The Marvels and the 2021 Candyman sequel, was recruited for film number two, and according to Danny, she's 'done a great job of it'
As for a third film, Danny explained to The Hollywood Reporter that he and the team are still trying to get money for that one, which he intends to direct if all goes to plan.
Speaking to IGN this month, he explained that their finances for the third instalment will likely depend on 'how the first one does'.
In a separate interview with the BBC he said he envisioned Alife Williams appearing in all three parts of the story, adding: '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.'
Fans of the original movie will be elated to hear that the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer star will, indeed, be returning in the second movie of the trilogy, The Bone Temple.
'He is in the second one,' Danny revealed to IGN. 'I shouldn't give away too much. I'll get killed.'
During Danny's Reddit Ask Me Anything, he added that Cillian's 'central character of Jim will be there as a theme through them all'.
Danny is also hopeful that Cillian's star power could help get the third film greenlit.
'All I can say is you have to wait for Cillian, but hopefully he will help us get the third film financed,' he told Business Insider.
Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman Tom Rothman told Deadline in May last year that Cillian's character would be back in a 'surprising way and in a way that grows'.
Viewers had previously speculated that Cillian's character may have become infected when they spotted someone who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Peaky Blinders star in one particularly chilling shot of the trailer – though this turned out not to be the case.
28 Years Later is in cinemas now. The sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, is expected to arrive on 16 January 2026.
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