28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – more rage, more cults (trailer).

Now then, now then, Britain. Land of tea, scones, and recurring apocalyptic viral outbreaks. Just when you thought civilisation might have stabilised after a mere three decades of people frothing at the mouth and trying to chew their way through the M25, along comes 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple to remind us that no one does post-apocalyptic horror like the Brits.

The freshly dropped trailer promises more bleak landscapes, more infected sprinting like Olympic athletes on a Red Bull drip, and—because every end-of-the-world franchise needs one—an ominous cult with a charismatic, deeply untrustworthy leader. Step forward Jack O’Connell as Sir Jimmy Crystal, who seems to be modelling his new society on equal parts medieval theology, Glastonbury mud, and good old-fashioned nightmare fuel. His followers (with names like Jimmima and Jimmy Ink—clearly someone in the casting office was having fun) look all too eager to chant, kneel, and sacrifice. Probably in that order.

Alfie Williams, as Spike, is carrying the weight of family drama, being Jamie’s son (with Aaron Taylor-Johnson back in ragged survivor mode). Ralph Fiennes pops up as Dr Ian Kelson, which is exactly the sort of name you give to a haunted doctor who knows far too much about how the human body comes apart when a rage virus takes hold. And towering above the carnage is Chi Lewis-Parry as “Samson,” an Alpha infected who looks set to rip his way into franchise history as the sort of monster that makes you wish you’d stayed in lockdown permanently.

But the big news? Cillian Murphy returns as Jim, the traumatised bicycle courier from the original 28 Days Later. He’s older, presumably wiser, and judging by the trailer, still very much stuck in the worst gap year in human history. Fans have been clamouring for his return, and now he’s back, though one suspects his fitness app is long since useless in keeping up with the running undead.

Nia DaCosta steps in to direct this chapter, with Alex Garland still at the script helm, meaning we’re in safe, blood-soaked hands. Shot back-to-back with 28 Years Later (2025), The Bone Temple is the second instalment of a new trilogy, with Danny Boyle himself promising to return for the finale. So yes, you’re being invited to spend the next few years wallowing in rage, despair, and occasional moments of someone hitting an infected in the face with a blunt agricultural implement.

Here at SFcrowsnest, we can’t help but admire the British commitment to misery tourism. Americans get superheroes in spandex, we get collapsing infrastructure, fevered cults, and Cillian Murphy’s thousand-yard stare. Honestly, it feels right.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple crashes into cinemas on 16 January 2026. Bring popcorn, bring a stiff drink, and whatever you do—don’t blink when the infected start running.