As horror movie franchises blossomed and bloomed over the past twenty years, there was always one film that fans looked back on as needing another chapter. Why should the Halloween franchise be able to deliver six movies across the 2000s when some films got one follow-up and nothing else? The stars finally aligned over the past few years, though, when Danny Boyle’s beloved 28 Days Later not only got a sequel with the director back behind the camera, but the start of a new trilogy. 28 Years Later was billed as starting a new branch of the franchise, and as exciting as the beginning was, it seemed like it might never finish.
Though Boyle’s 28 Years Later premiered to rave reviews in the summer of 2025, going on to make over $151 million at the global box office, the first sequel didn’t fare quite as well. The first sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, arrived this January, and though the reviews were even better than the original, the film failed at the box office, making $58.5 million on a reported budget above $60 million. It put the end of the 28 Years Later trilogy in doubt in a big way despite a major cliffhanger. Now, Boyle has an update on the third film where he confirms that it’s absolutely still happening.
Speaking at the Zurich Film Festival (via Variety), Boyle confirmed: “‘28 Years 3,’ or whatever it ends up being called, will get made because people keep asking about it. Quite when I’m not sure, but there’s a script – a very good script by Alex Garland…[It will have] a lot of Cillian Murphy in it. Whether he’ll take his kit off anymore, that I don’t know. He’s got the Oscar now.”
As fans who actually showed up to watch 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple know, the second film confirmed that Murphy’s Jim would be a big part of the third movie, as it included a clear teaser for what was to come. At the end of that film, Murphy’s Jim was revealed to be living in a quiet country house, living with his daughter, Sam.
Just before the credits roll, the pair notice that Spike and Kellie are being pursued by the infected and decide to help them. This sets up a third movie that will not only mesh the plots of the first two 28 Years Later films, but the original as well. Furthermore, the potential for a cure for the Rage Virus will no doubt become a focal point as well.
Fans assumed that The Bone Temple bombing at the box office was a sign that this series would become one of the great unfinished horror franchises, but with Boyle confirming that it’s actually going to happen, there’s finally something to celebrate. Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.
