Ralph Fiennes reveals first plot details for 28 Years Later – and says the sequel has been shot, too

Ralph Fiennes has shared the first plot details for 28 Years Later, the sequel to 2002’s 28 Days Later and 2007’s 28 Weeks Later from director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland, as well as revealing that the next movie in the franchise has wrapped filming, too.

“It’s three films, of which two have been shot,” Fiennes told IndieWire. “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 stars alongside returning franchise cast member Cillian Murphy, as well as fellow newcomers Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Jack O’Connell. “Having met Danny, he’s incredibly sure and confident and innovative. As an actor to be on a set with someone like that who’s leading the charge is so exciting,” Comer recently told Total Film. 

“I remember seeing 28 Days Later and I was so struck with how it was so rooted in reality, and it was more about the exploration of us as a species and our behavior and how we react. It felt like there was a lot of emotional truth within the film that really anchored it. That’s also what I felt when I read this script.”

The next installment in the new trilogy, titled 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple, is directed by Nia DaCosta, with Boyle and Garland co-writing the script. The third movie is still untitled and doesn’t have a director attached yet. 

28 Years Later arrives on the big screen on June 20, 2025. While we wait, check out our picks of the best upcoming horror movies still to come in 2024.