How to Watch the ‘28 Days Later' Movies in Order
Before we had HBO shelling cordyceps and Pedro Pascal smut, we had the 2002 hit 28 Days Later. Two decades later, in the abyss of The Last of Us hiatus, the original 'infected' are returning. With the long-anticipated 28 Years Later at our fingertips—rumored to be the first film in a new trilogy—it's time to revisit the nightmare. Here's your guide to watching the 28 Days Later franchise in the proper order, plus a preview of what's to come.
Directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, the mother wound that is 28 Days Later opens on a crew of animal rights activists who accidentally release a deadly lab-grown virus into society. 28 days later, Cillian Murphy wakes from a coma and finds himself in a deserted, post-apocalyptic London. What follows is equal parts horror and psychological drama, with the survivors navigating a world where the line between humanity and monstrosity blurs.
The film originally was considered a piece of lost media, since it was so hard to find on streaming and home video. Back in February 2024, producer Andrew Macdonald bought back the rights to film, allowing it return to streaming and now we can watch it for ourselves again.
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Boyle and Garland returned in 2007 with a new iteration, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. The sequel takes place six months after the events of the first film. The virus is 'contained,' and NATO forces are repopulating a secure zone in London. But a new outbreak—fueled by a carrier with natural immunity—spirals into chaos. This sequel trades the intimacy of the original for broader scale, faster pacing, and some truly haunting visuals (the helicopter scene lives in infamy). 28 Weeks Later expands the universe and introduces the idea that the virus might never truly be eradicated. It's also the movie that confirmed: containment is a myth.
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Landing in theaters on June 20, 2025, 28 Years Later picks up three decades after the original film's timeline, following a group of survivors living on a small, heavily-defended island. Our main players here are a father and son who leave the island to traverse the infected-populated mainland.
With the original team at the helm, the film is written by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle. Cillian Murphy hive, stand down. The stars of this film include Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes. If the first two films were about shock and spread, 28 Years Later may look at legacy. What does the world look like after generations of rage—both viral and political? How have survivors evolved? And can the infection ever truly be cured?
Much like The Last of Us and the (read: actually good) films in the broader zombie canon, the 28 Days Later franchise is a reflection of our anxieties—about science, government, violence, and each other. Sigh. Reality bites.
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