Making a legacyquel is always a tricky game, especially when following a film that shook up an entire genre decades prior. That’s the situation for 28 Years Later, a direct sequel to director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland’s zombie horror hit 28 Days Later. The duo are reteaming for the first time in years, and they’ve found enthusiastic producing partners in Sony Pictures. The star of 28 Days, Cillian Murphy, is also attached as an executive producer, but according to Sony chairman Tom Rothman, the Oscar-winning actor could also reprise his role as Jim.
This May, Rothman told Deadline that Murphy would return “in a surprising way and in a way that grows,” potentially appearing alongside new cast members like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes. Speculation has abounded ever since, as Jim’s journey in 28 Days doesn’t exactly end with rainbows and puppies. Multiple endings were written for the 2002 film: one sees Jim succumbing to gunshot wounds, and in another, he undergoes a blood transfusion and essentially becomes a zombie. After poor test screenings, the team chose to end on a more positive note.
The theatrical version of 28 Days suggests that Jim and two other survivors are rescued, and when Rothman announced Murphy’s return to the franchise, most assumed that 28 Years Later would use the happier ending to justify his return. Now that Sony has unveiled the first trailer for the film, however, Boyle and Garland could be reintroducing their leading man with a dark twist.
The 28 Years Later trailer doesn’t give much away, but thanks to a recent interview with Ralph Fiennes, we have some idea of what to expect. Here’s what Fiennes told IndieWire about the sequel:
“Britain is 28 years into this terrible plague of infected people who are violent, rabid humans with a few pockets of uninfected communities. And it centers on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother. He leads his mother through this beautiful northern English terrain. But of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected. But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.”
Fiennes will play the good doctor, and it’s safe to assume that Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer will be parents to our young protagonist. Murphy also seems to appear in the trailer, but by the looks of things, his Jim succumbed to the Rage Virus a long time ago. The trailer features a looming zombie who looks a lot like Murphy.
Jim’s return as a zombie would make sense, given the circumstances. The idea that someone could survive nearly 30 years of the Rage Virus is difficult to believe, and reintroducing the hero of 28 Days as a member of the infected is certainly a shock to the system. Still, it doesn’t exactly line up with Rothman’s comments, especially if Murphy only appears for a cameo. Maybe Zombie Jim plays an ongoing role in 28 Years Later, or maybe that isn’t Jim at all? Fans will have to wait a bit longer for concrete answers, but all will be revealed when the film premieres next summer... unless that info is being held for its sequels.
