We got word earlier this year that 28 Days Later director (Danny Boyle) and writer (Alex Garland) are teaming up for a series of sequels to the 2002 horror hit, and following the recent news that Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes have signed on to play the lead roles, it's been confirmed that Cillian Murphy will return for 28 Years Later.
There was speculation that Murphy, who won the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Oppenheimer, might be set to reprise the role of Jim from the original movie when he signed on as an executive producer, and Sony has now made it official.
"Yes, but in a surprising way and in a way that grows, let me put it that way," Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman Tom Rothman told Deadline when asked if Murphy would return. "This is Danny [Boyle] 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."
We don't know how substantial Murphy's part will be, but it sounds like he may only have a small role in the first movie and then more to do in the follow-ups.
28 Days Later was a massive success, and already spawned one less well-regarded (but still well worth watching) follow-up in 2007's 28 Weeks Later. Boyle and Garland were only involved as executive producers on that project, so a lot of fans are sure to view this new movie as the first true sequel.
Boyle will helm the first instalment, while Nia DaCosta was recently announced as the second film's director. The plan is to shoot both back-to-back. Garland will write all three. The budget for each movie is said to be in the $75 million range.
The first film starred Murphy as a man who wakes from a coma after a bicycle accident to find that England has been overrun by "The Infected." The virus turns its victims into raging killers, but unlike the usual "zombies," these creatures can move with frightening speed. The man then sets out to learn what's been going on, meeting fellow survivors played by Naomie Harris and Brendan Gleeson along the way, as well as a deranged army major played by Christopher Eccleston.
Plot details for 28 Years Later are still under wraps, but the timeframe would suggest that it will take place in a near-future setting, which means the movie might lean more towards sci-fi than straight-up horror.
"A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research lab. When London bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma a month after, he finds his city all but deserted. On the run from the zombie-like victims of the Rage, Jim stumbles upon a group of survivors, including Selena (Naomie Harris) and cab driver Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and joins them on a perilous journey to what he hopes will be safety."