The Danny Boyle-directed film serves as a sequel to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, and is expected to be released in June next year
Film fans think they have spotted a major clue about Cillian Murphy’s role in the upcoming zombie film 28 Years Later, branding it ‘upsetting’.
A fresh trailer for the upcoming horror released today (December 10) which reveals more details about the highly-anticipated sequel to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. The first film released in 2002 and followed Cillian Murphy’s character Jim who wakes up in hospital to a post-apocalyptic London.
While Cillian did not reprise his role in the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, Sony bosses teased that he would be back for the third installment but in a “surprising way, and in a way that grows.” Fans now think they’ve worked out what the surprise is after claiming to have seen the star in the new trailer.
The trailer begins with a group of young children watching Teletubbies, before a panicked adult rushes into the room and demands they “sit still, keep quiet and don’t move”, before blood is seen splattering across the TV while the show continues to play.
It then hones in on a small island littered with graves as Rudyard Kipling’s repetitive poem ‘Boots’ is read out. There we get a glimpse of Aaron Taylor-Johnson walking through a small community seemingly made up of survivors, as well as Jodie Comer’s character cradling a newborn baby.
But it is one scene in particular that caught the attention of eagle-eyed fans. In a lush green field, an emaciated-looking Cillian Murphy appears to rise up in an eerie fashion, and viewers think it is the character of Jim who has ultimately succumbed to the deadly virus.
“I thought he was alive? What the f***? That’s upsetting if this is true for fans of the first movie,” fumed one film fan. Meanwhile another, along with crying emojis, wrote: “What did they do to my goat (greatest of all time).”
“Nah man. Can’t believe they did this to Jim the bike courier,” said another disappointed fan, while another speculated he could be “some kind of hybrid between zombie and human.”
At the end of 28 Days Later, Jim along with Selena and Hannah are hiding out in the countryside. They find some cloth and spell out the word ‘Hello’ outside in an effort to get attention from a passing plane. A series of alternative endings however see Jim being killed off.
The full story of Jim’s fate in the upcoming release is still unclear, but based on the tone of the trailer, it is guaranteed to be bleak.
28 Years Later releases in cinemas on June 20, 2025