Danny Boyle Says Another 28 Days Later Film Is In The Works With Alex Garland

Zombie films and series are ten-a-penny these days, with many trying and failing to hit the mark.

Not many have had quite the same impact as Danny Boyle's now iconic, 28 Days Later, which breathed new life into the undead.

The film, which landed in cinemas in 2002, starred Peaky Blinders lead Cillian Murphy as Jim, a courier who awakes 28 days after a zombie invasion has destroyed civilization as we know it.

It was followed five years later by sequel 28 Weeks Later, starring Robert Carlyle.

Well, we have some great news for fans of the gritty British horrors; a third instalment could be on its way.

Yes, almost two decades since a pasty Murphy woke up in an abandoned hospital with that dodgy haircut, the Slumdog Millionaire director has said plans are afoot for a return to his idea of a post-apocalyptic Britain.

DNA Films

Talking about the possibility of him returning for another crack of the whip, Boyle told the Independent that he would be teaming up once again with the screenwriter Alex Garland - who wrote the first film.

"Alex Garland and I have a wonderful idea for the third part," he said. "It's properly good."

He continued: "The original film led to a bit of a resurgence in the zombie drama and it doesn't reference any of that. It doesn't feel stale at all. He's concentrating on directing his own work at the moment, so it's stood in abeyance really, but it's a you-never-know."

In an interview with IGN back in 2015, Garland said it would most probably be set a couple of years after the second film.

The writer said: "We've just started talking about it seriously.

"We've got an idea. Danny [Boyle] and [producer] Andrew [Macdonald] and I have been having quite serious conversations about it so it is a possibility. It's complicated. There's a whole bunch of reasons why it's complicated, which are boring so I won't go into, but there's a possibility."

He added: "It's more likely to be 28 Months than 28 Years. 28 Years gives you one more place to go. 28 Decades is probably taking the piss."

DNA Films

In the past, however, Boyle has not seemed overly excited about the prospect of making a sequel.

Speaking in the build-up to another collaboration with Garland, Sunshine, the Trainspotting director said: "I'm not particularly keen on franchises. I find it really depressing that they're so successful. It used to be, when I started, that a sequel would only make 60 per cent of what the original movie did. Now, of course, the sequels are much more successful than the originals.

"I'm more interested in doing originals. If you can come up with good enough ideas, people will come and see original films, rather than the rehash, you know? Rather than the sequel."

Let's hope Garland is right, though, and Boyle has mellowed out about it all.

Topics: TV and Film, Interesting, UK Entertainment, Cillian Murphy

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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