’28 Years Later’ Is Finally Happening

For years, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland have the teased the possibility of another sequel to 28 Days Later. And now it seems that it’s finally, actually happening.

Released in 2003, 28 Days Later stars Cillian Murphy Jim, a man who wakes up from a coma to discover that the world has been overtaken by a virus that turns people into rage-fueled zombies (it’s called the internet, Jim). Danny Boyle directed the film, one of the earliest shot in digital, from a screenplay by Alex Garland. A sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was released in 2007, and though Boyle and Garland were only involved as executive producers, it performed relatively well—and inevitably led to questions about whether there’d be another sequel, obviously titled 28 Years Later.

It’s only been 20 years since the first film was released, but in the meantime, the careers of Murphy, Boyle, and Garland have only gotten bigger, thanks in part to their earlier collaboration. After years of mulling the possibility in interviews, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Boyle and Garland are reuniting for 28 Years Later, with plans for the film to kick off a new trilogy. Boyle will direct the first installment, his first feature since 2019’s divisive Yesterday. Garland, who wrote and directed A24’s upcoming Civil War (a series of words that raises all kinds of questions without the italics—are men in sweatshirts arguing about auteur theory? Is Ari Aster leading a rebellion against the oppression of SSRIs?), will write all three scripts in the new 28 Days trilogy.

Following a bidding war, THR reports that Sony has landed the rights to 28 Years Later and its sequel. Though previously reported as a new trilogy, the deal apparently only involves two films. It’s still unclear if Murphy will reprise his role as Jim, but the actor has signed on to executive produce the new sequels.

(featured image: Searchlight Pictures)