There are two types of people in the world: First, there’s the kind who spent all of the COVID lockdown watching movies about epidemics. And the kind who would have rather done literally anything else than think about diseases or apocalypses or diseases that causes apocalypses. If you fall into the former category, you probably have already done your deep-dive into the zombiefied, disease-riddled world of 28 Years Later. If you’re anyone else, well, then this is for you.
When the first movie in the “28” franchise, 28 Days Later, came out in 2002, it basically kickstarted a resurgence of the zombie genre. Dawn of the Dead, World War Z, and The Last of Us all have 28 Days Later to thank. And no, the scary bad guys in all these movies aren’t technically zombies; they’re people infected with the “rage” virus who’ve become mind-numbingly violent, so same difference.
The first movie also was a breakout for star Cillian Murphy. Yes, Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy of Barbenheimer fame. He starred in 28 Days Later and is an executive producer on 28 Years Later. He’s not in the latter movie, but he is in the next sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which comes out next year. Confused yet? Don’t worry. Here’s your explainer on the full 28 Years Later franchise.
28 Years Later Movie Franchise Explained
What is 28 Days Later about?
In 2002, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland made the super-low budget movie 28 Days Later, which tells the story of a guy named Jim (Cillian Murphy) who wakes up from a coma 28 days into the outbreak of a deadly virus. When I say this thing is low-budget, I mean it; they filmed it on Canon DV cameras. Yes, the same DV cameras your parents used to make home movies in the early 2000s. So the movie is super-grainy, which only adds to the visceral feeling you’re in the apocalypse with the characters.
Jim teams up with some other people (Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns) to fight off the “rage”-infected, zombie-like people, who threaten to spread the virus through blood or spit. Spoiler alert, he makes it to isolated safety at the end, but the virus is still out there.
What are all the “28” movies?
After the major success of 28 Days Later, they made a sequel called 28 Weeks Later in 2007. This movie is set (you guessed it) 28 weeks after the outbreak of the virus. But this movie features an entirely different cast, including Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, and Imogen Poots. This one wasn’t as popular as the first one, and it had a different writer and director.
In 28 Weeks Later, the U.S. Army arrives in England to help people reintegrate into society because they think the virus has been contained. But (surprise, surprise) there are still rage zombies everywhere, and the end of the movie hints that the virus has spread to Paris.
What is 28 Years Later about?
28 Years Later, which released in theaters on June 20, is set nearly 30 years after the original virus spread. Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland returned for this one, an it’s worth noting that Alex kinda ignored the Paris ending of 28 Weeks Later. “I just ignored that because personally I was more interested in the idea that Britain had been quarantined,” he told The New York Times.
So yeah, Britain is cut off from the rest of the world, and a group of survivors (played by Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Alfie Williams) live a completely isolated life on an island. That is, until they venture out to the mainland and discover that the virus has mutated.
Are there going to be more 28 Years Later sequels?
28 Years Later is actually the first in a trilogy of planned sequels. After this movie, there’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which will mark Cillian Murphy’s return to the franchise. Danny Boyle isn’t directing that installment; instead it’s directed by Nia DaCosta, who directed The Marvels. We won’t have to wait too long to see The Bone Temple. It’s releasing in theaters in January 2026. I don’t know exactly how many days or weeks later that is, but it’s definitely not too far off.
