Nearly three decades after the world was first ravaged by the infamous Rage Virus, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are bringing audiences back into their nightmarish vision of a post-apocalyptic Britain with 28 Years Later, a film that appears to have the potential to rival its predecessors.
Set precisely 10,228 days after the initial outbreak, the movie follows a small group of survivors who have managed to carve out a precarious existence on a remote island. Jaime (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a survivor who came of age during the initial apocalypse, must venture from the relative safety of his island community back into the dangerous mainland.
The first trailer shows a haunting glimpse into this new world, opening with a seriously nostalgic yet immediately unsettling scene of Teletubbies on an old-school TV – a good reminder of the world that was lost. From there, the trailer quickly establishes the grim new reality: a Britain still under ruthless quarantine, where survival means adapting to the most primitive of conditions.
The trailer is brilliantly scored by a scratchy, increasingly frantic recording of Rudyard Kipling’s poem Boots – a military piece from 1915 that adds another layer of psychological tension to the already nerve-wracking footage. It’s a masterstroke of atmospheric storytelling that immediately sets 28 Years Later apart from the usual zombie slogfest. Man, I love this trailer!
However, what’s gotten fans buzzing online is a cameo of someone we might know. As the trailer nears the end, we see a peek of an extremely gaunt zombie rising from a field of grass bearing an uncanny resemblance to Cillian Murphy, the star of the original 28 Days Later. Murphy, who is an executive producer on the film, has hinted at a “surprising” appearance, and this could very well be it.
The most interesting bit is that the film was shot entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max, a choice that allowed the DP to maintain a gritty, raw aesthetic of the original film. It’s also just the first part of a planned trilogy, with Nia DaCosta potentially directing the second installment (she directed the massive box-office bomb The Marvels, so I’m not exactly looking forward to the sequel).
The rest of the cast includes Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Erin Kellyman, and Edvin Ryding. 28 Years Later will debut in theaters on June 20, 2025.
