Zombies* have come a long way since 2002. Then something of a horror backwater (George Romero notwithstanding), they're now the stuff of hit mainstream television. That renaissance has its roots in an unholy trinity from the start of the century: Zack Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead remake; Edgar Wright's Shaun Of The Dead; and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. Now the latter's writer Alex Garland has hinted that the third part of his and Boyle's always mooted trilogy, 28 Months Later, may finally be on the way.
"We’ve just started talking about it seriously,” Garland told IGN. “We’ve got an idea. Danny and [producer] Andrew [Macdonald] and I have been having quite serious conversations about it so it is a possibility. It’s complicated. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why it’s complicated, which are boring so I won’t go into, but there’s a possibility..."
28 Days Later was followed after five years by 28 Weeks Later, on which Garland and Boyle acted as executive producers for director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Since then Garland has been busy with the likes of Sunshine, Never Let Me Go, Dredd and his own directorial debut Ex_Machina. For Boyle, of course, there's been Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Trance, Frankenstein on stage, and the small matter of the 2012 London Olympics.
For the next Later instalment, Garland says it's likely he and Boyle will exec-produce again, with Garland also delegating screenplay duties. The pair have been talking up their as-yet unspecified good ideas for part three since at least 2007, citing rights issues and their other pressing projects as things in the way. Actual details are still unforthcoming with this apparent new impetus, but Garland is willing to reveal that the title will likely be 'Months' and not 'Years'.
"It’s more likely to be 28 Months Later,” he says. “28 Years gives you one more place to go. 28 Decades is probably taking the piss."
Ex_Machina is out in the UK on January 23.
*Sometimes more accurately "infected", for those of you who like to be anal about these things.