The first movie in Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later trilogy has hit cinemas this past weekend to critical acclaim.
Original 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy was credited as executive producer and will reprise his character Jim in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which will be released cinematically on January 16, 2025.
The second film, which has already wrapped, was also penned by Garland but directed by Nia DaCosta.
And now Boyle has revealed exactly what the Oscar-winner’s role will be in 28 Years Later 2 and 3.
Speaking with Screen Rant, Boyle divulged: “Yeah, I have admitted this under pressure. I’ve obviously seen a rough cut of Nia DaCosta’s film of The Bone Temple and he’s introduced beautifully at the coda of that film. That obviously leads you in the way that you’ll probably realise that Jimmy is going to be a huge part of the second movie having been introduced at the end of the first movie. Likewise, Cillian will be a huge part of the third movie having been introduced in what is, in effect, a coda to the second movie. A very surprising one nonetheless.”
Boyle has previously said that 28 Days Later is about the nature of family and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be about the nature of evil. As teased in the “coda” of the first film, Jack O’Connell’s Jimmy Savile cult leader will play a major role in mentoring Spike with the other Jimmies.
We speculated that Murphy’s Jim would somehow be apart of this group despite being a protagonist, but now it sounds like he’ll only cameo at the end the second film before playing a major role 28 Years Later 3. The latter is yet to be green-lit (presumably because it’s waiting on the box office of 28 Years Later). Nevertheless,, it’ss all but confirmed, with Boyle once again returning to direct. The filmmaker says the conclusion to the trilogy will be about the nature of redemption.