Whilst he may be about to appear on our screens in Oscar hopeful Papal conspiracy thriller Conclave, British acting heavyweight Ralph Fiennes will soon be heading into more unholy territory as one of the stars of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's upcoming zombie franchise revival 28 Years Later. And now, as we barrel towards the 28 Days Later sequel trilogy opener's 20 June, 2025 release date, Fiennes has started teasing more details about what we can expect from the post-apocalyptic series' latest chapter.
Speaking with IndieWire just last week, Fiennes gave some exciting updates on the new movies' progress. "It’s three films, of which two have been shot,” said the In Bruges actor, confirming Boyle and Garland's trilogy plans for 28 Years Later before continuing to outline the plot of its first instalment. "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."
The doctor Fiennes speaks of is played by himself, whilst the second movie he refers to is presumably 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple, the film Nia DaCosta had been in talks to direct earlier this year. As for how Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Cillian Murphy's returning courier-turned-Rage virus survivor Jim will factor into the equation, that much remains to be seen. For now, what we do know is that we'll be fascinated to see how the continuation of a story about the decimation of humanity in the wake of a destructive virus' outbreak plays in a post-COVID landscape, and to see whether Boyle, Garland, and co can recapture the lightning in a bottle of that incendiary first movie once again here. With so much talent in front of and behind the camera though, we have every reason to believe there's still life in the undead franchise yet!