The sequel to 28 Years Later, The Bone Temple, will begin shooting later this year, according to new reports.
READ MORE: ’28 Days Later’ at 20: Danny Boyle and Cillian Murphy on why it wouldn’t get made today
Back in May, Cillian Murphy was confirmed to be returning to the franchise that launched his career, in 2025’s 28 Years Later.
News of the new film was first announced earlier this year, with confirmation that director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, who helmed the 2002 original 28 Days Later, were both returning to the franchise.
The film was given the official release date of June 20, 2025 and will also star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell.
28 Years Later is slated to be the first entry in a new trilogy, with Alex Garland (who wrote the original) writing and produce all three. Boyle is only expected to return for the first instalment, with Candyman and The Marvels director Nia DaCosta helming for the second.
Now, as per Film Stories, it’s being reported that filming on 28 Years Later has now completed, before filming on the next instalment, The Bone Temple, starts shooting.
As with 28 Years Later, it’s expected that The Bone Temple will be filmed in London. As yet, it’s not clear who from the original film will be in the follow-up.
NME has reached out to representatives of Sony for comment.
Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman Tom Rothman gave the initial news about the film and Murphy’s return to Deadline, saying that Murphy would return “in a surprising way and in a way that grows, let me put it that way.”
He added: “This is Danny at his best, combined with a very commercial genre, like we had with Edgar Wright and Baby Driver. Sometimes when you put a real signature director into a commercial arena, it elevates it.”
2002’s 28 Days Later saw Murphy play the bicycle courier Jim, who awakens from a coma to discover that the accidental release of a highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus has caused the breakdown of society.
Speaking to NME in 2022 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of 28 Days Later, Murphy and Boyle said that they had often spoken about a follow-up to their hit zombie flick. While Murphy said he’s now too old for it, Boyle revealed that Garland had written a script titled 28 Months Later a few years ago but nothing came of it.
Boyle said at the time: “I’d be very tempted [to direct it]. It feels like a very good time actually. It’s funny, I hadn’t thought about it until you just said it, and I remembered ‘Bang, this script!’ which is again set in England, very much about England. Anyway, we’ll see… who knows?”
The original film secured a sequel in 2007, 28 Weeks Later, though Boyle and Garland only executive-produced this project.
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