28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the upcoming sequel to Danny Boyle's 2025 zombie revival, is aiming at full-blown weirdness, as teased by director Nia DaCosta. DaCosta is taking over directorial duties after Boyle decided to step back, and she promises a "surprising" film in a franchise that's already known for pushing the envelope beyond the boundaries of horror tropes.
"There were multiple moments reading the script where my jaw dropped, literally," DaCosta tells Empire Magazine, during an interview focusing on the film's premiere this January. While the ending of 2025's 28 Years Later already offered a glimpse into a weird future alongside a gang of zombie hunters, star Jack O'Connell says that the sequel is "a weird, demented, relative cousin of what we've seen before, in a way I'm really f-ing proud of." The actor adds:
28 Years Later ends as the wandering teen Spike encounters a horde of acrobatic hunters known as "the Jimmys." Led by O’Connell's Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, the bizarre warriors seem to know every technique to defeat the walking dead, and even do it in style. O’Connell talked about the antagonist, and says that the sequel will definitely explore his origins. It's likely that Crystal's character draws some inspiration from English personality Jimmy Savile, the sex offender who died in 2011 and never stood in a court of law for his abominable crimes. The actor playing Crystal addresses this link between his character and the real-life controversial figure:
"The reality of the viewer and the proposed reality of these characters we're playing are two very different perspectives. What I hope it does is invite people who watch it to consider that time, consider the zeitgeist of that period when the world in which we're portraying just f-ing went to sh*t."
DaCosta, best known for Candyman and The Marvels, weighed in on the matter, and revealed that she's not trying to explore Jimmy Savile in any way. Instead, "This character of Jimmy Crystal, he perverts things, and he takes something that's innocent and great — like the Teletubbies — and he makes it horrific."
'28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' Continues Danny Boyle's Wildly Distinct Zombie Franchise
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple comes out in theaters on January 16, 2026, with U.K. fans getting an earlier screening on January 14. It is officially the fourth entry in the 28 Days Later film series, created by Danny Boyle in 2002 with the feature starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, and Brendan Gleeson. After being absent from the 2007 sequel, Boyle returned to the series earlier this year with 28 Years Later, a franchise revival starring Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Alfie Williams.
Part 2 of the 28 Years Later timeline sees Williams' Spike joining Jimmy Crystal's zombie-hunting gang, as they encounter Ralph Fiennes' unpredictable character Dr. Ian Kelson. The film's trailer once again puts humankind against a zombie-infested landscape, but it seems that the rabid flesh-eaters are not the only monsters trying to survive the apocalypse.
You would think that it's still early to speculate about the future of the series, but as it turns out, The Bone Temple is not the end. After early screenings, Sony Pictures is moving ahead with the third chapter. The future sequel is still untitled, although Alex Garland is expected to return to tackle the script, and Boyle has expressed his desire to return after handing over the director's chair to DaCosta for The Bone Temple.
