28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was filmed back-to-back, so we were in the extraordinary position of being treated to a sequel just seven months later. Several months after The Bone Temple, we’re expecting a third! So where is it??
We know Danny Boyle wants to round off the trilogy, and that Sony has greenlit the project. So just how are filming plans going? Here’s everything we know so far about 28 Years Later 3.
First up, where we’re at with the story
With the Years Later films giving us events that happen literally decades after the first two films, 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, let’s remind ourselves of where we’re up to.
In 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, society has fallen after being ravaged by a rage virus. People try to fix it but fail, and by the time of the film 28 Years Later, we see what Britain looks like after living with the virus for decades.
Islander Spike’s search for help for his mother in a quarantined Britain is terrifying as he encounters danger and hazard, not least of which a cult leader – Jimmy Crystal – played by Jack O’Connell, who is attacked by the infected.
As Spike makes his escape, we see he’s been spotted by Jim (Cillian Murphy), who was the survivor and hero of 28 Days Later, setting up a return for the character in 28 Years Later 3.
Who’s starring in 28 Years Later 3?
We can only say with a hint of certainty: Cillian Murphy. His character would round off the trilogy in a very satisfying way. The rest is pure speculation and expectation, as nothing has been confirmed yet.
Alfie Williams as Spike will also surely return. He’s been central to the story so far and survived 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Ralph Fiennes plays the doctor who gets close to understanding the evolution of the virus, so he’s likely to be in the final film. As is Jack O’Connell as the psychopathic Jimmy Crystal.
When will 28 Years Later 3 begin filming?
Well, we know it’s not going to be this year, and we are hoping for 2027. In an interview with JoBlo Movie Network in answer to a question about 28 Years Later 3, Danny Boyle said this: “It’ll be, hopefully, fingers crossed, next year.” We know Sony has greenlit the third film, which was confirmed in 2025. So all that’s left is for us to all cross our fingers too.
Who will direct 28 Years Later 3?
That would be Danny Boyle. He’s long expressed his desire to complete the trilogy.
Why was 28 Years Later 3 not filmed with the first two 28 Years Later films?
It’s a question that rages as strongly as the post-apocalyptic virus itself: why wasn’t the final part of the trilogy filmed close to the first two films? Danny Boyle, who directed the first and produced the second, has the answer, as told to JoBlo. “Because it’s set in an area of Britain [where] you can only film at certain times of the year… we literally ran out of time.”
Alex Garland has written a script that Danny Boyle is excited about
Danny Boyle described the script as wonderful. Which is heartening, because rumour has it that the first idea was to give the Last Years franchise a much more weaponised-virus-kind-of-ending (as reported in Comic Basics), but that was seen as a road well travelled, and Boyle wanted a route audiences hadn’t necessarily seen before.
Fan theories are raging about a Jim vs Jimmy clash
Imaginations are in overdrive about likely narrative threads in the final film, and we’re excited by the one about a conflict between Cillian Murphy’s Jim and Jack O’Connell’s twisted Jimmy. Jim is all about redemption (and we hope that’s still the case!), so we know whose side we’re on. We just don’t want Spike to get caught in the middle.
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