Horror abounds in the first trailer for “28 Years Later,” the surprise sequel to Danny Boyle’s landmark 2002 zombie film “28 Days Later” that helped catapult the careers of Boyle, writer Alex Garland and star Cillian Murphy. All three are back for “28 Years Later,” which boasts a time jump as the title suggests, although the exact nature of Murphy’s role in this new film is under wraps for now.
The trailer does a swell job of teasing this new world nearly three decades after a zombie outbreak ravaged society. The story is told through the eyes of a young boy trying to find his mother, and the people he encounters along the way. That includes characters played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes.
Per the official synopsis, “28 Years Later” concerns one group of survivors that lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, “he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.”
“28 Years Later” is the first in a new trilogy of films that landed at Sony after Boyle and Garland developed the projects independently and shopped for a distributor. A bidding war ignited, and the next film has already been shot by director Nia DaCosta.
For “28 Years Later,” Boyle is bringing back some of the cutting-edge cinematography that made “28 Days Later” so striking. The 2002 original was one of the first films shot on video (i.e. early digital), and now “28 Years Later” was shot using iPhones.
Check out the creepy trailer below. “28 Years Later” opens exclusively in theaters on June 20, 2025.
