Cillian Murphy says he would consider a return for a third movie in the 28 Days Later series, after missing out on the second movie.
Now more well-known for being the star of Peaky Blinders – the show seemingly every person in the U.K. watches – the Irish actor first rose to fame in 2002 when 28 Days Later became a sensation upon release.
He starred in the lead role as Jim, who wakes up from a coma 28 days after a highly contagious virus has destroyed much of civilisation.
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It helped to reboot the zombie craze in cinema, leading to a sequel, 28 Weeks Later. Lacking both Murphy and director Danny Boyle, it didn’t manage to have the same impact as its predecessor.
There has been talk of a third movie in the franchise since as far back as 2007. In 2019, Boyle confirmed that he was working on a third movie with original screenwriter Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation).
Garland told IGN in 2015 that they had a name already in mind for it: “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.”
That was the last noise surrounding the project until now. As per CinePOP, Murphy has stated his interest in returning to the series if the opportunity presented itself. “I would never say never,” he insisted. “I loved making that movie. It was a long time ago. It was almost 20 years ago. But sure!”
The wisdom of bringing out a movie based around a deadly and contagious worldwide virus now doesn’t seem the best. When 28 Days Later came out almost 20 years ago, it was downright terrifying. It felt like it belonged safely to the realm of fiction, of horror. I think we’ll all be safer just rewatching Paddington 2 again.
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Remember the trailer for 28 Days Later:
