28 Years Later Makes Samson the Most Memorable Zombie in Movie History (And Not Just Because of THAT)

Samson returns in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and the sequel may have just made him the most memorable zombie in movie history. The 28 Days Later franchise is full of rage virus zombies, with many of them standing out from the horde due to memorable characteristics. However, Samson is even more important than any of these, especially after this big reveal in The Bone Temple.

Samson was first introduced in the first 28 Years Later, with him being an Alpha zombie who leads a horde of infected in the woods surrounding the Bone Temple. Samson is not only notable for his massive size and nudity, but also because he is a special interest of Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Ian Kelson. Kelson uses a cocktail of drugs to sedate Samson and study him, something that The Bone Temple delves even further into.

Samson Is Cured Of The Rage Virus In The Bone Temple

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple sees Dr. Ian Kelson come up with a new theory regarding the rage virus. Kelson believes that there is a psychiatric element to the rage virus, with him theorizing that the infected see something that isn’t there when they attack humans. After hearing Samson speak the word “moon” when looking into the night sky, Kelson gets the confidence to test this theory on the Alpha zombie.

So, Kelson makes Samson swallow some psychiatric medication one night. The next morning, Samson is nowhere to be seen. A later scene shows Samson sitting by himself on a train. He has memories of the train in a pre-rage virus world, with his younger self having a conversation with a ticket inspector. Then, a group of zombies attacks him, proving that they don’t see him as one of the infected anymore.

Samson is still able to revert back to his violent side when the infected attack, proving that he hasn’t fully regained his humanity yet. However, Samson’s new state of consciousness proves that Kelson was right, and there is a way to treat the rage virus. It isn’t known if the virus can ever be fully cured, but Samson was clearly remembering human thoughts and less violent afterbeing given the psychiatric medication. So, the medicine could end the post-apocalyptic society if distributed on a larger scale.

While there have been plenty of pieces of zombie media centered on cures to zombie viruses, Samson is one of the only examples of a full-on zombie who has been cured. The Bone Temple is all about exploring Samson’s humanity, with Kelson’s relationship with him being a major focus of the story. A relationship between a survivor and a zombie has never been explored like this before, which is why 28 Years Later is so much more layered than other zombie films.

Will Samson Return In 28 Years Later 3?

The fate of Samson is left ambiguous at the end of The Bone Temple, with him last being seen carrying the body of Dr. Kelson at the Bone Temple. It isn’t known where Samson is going or what his plans are now that he’s cured, but he definitely has more agency now than he did before Kelson treated him. So, this raises the question of whether Samson will return in 28 Years Later 3.

28 Years Later 3 is officially in the works, with Sony announcing it in December 2025. Boyle and Garland are returning for the upcoming sequel, with it being the conclusion of their three-movie plan for the revival trilogy. They clearly have an idea for where they want the third movie to go based on Jim’s cameo at the end of The Bone Temple, meaning that Samson could be back.

Kelson was the only person who knew about his rage virus cure, meaning that it’ll be hard for anyone else to discover it in the third movie now that he’s dead. However, it is possible that someone could come across Samson and discover Kelson’s work. It’ll be hard to distribute the cure on a large scale due to the lack of medicine on the island, but Kelson’s research with Samson could at least be a start to building a better society.

However, it’ll be hard for the story of the third movie to justify a character not only finding Samson, but also discovering that he’s been cured. Samson isn’t able to communicate very well, so he probably can’t tell others about Kelson’s theories. Boyle and Garland are fantastic at crafting stories, so they must realize that they need to avoid contrivances if they are going to bring Samson back.

It seems more likely that Samson will go unnoticed by the survivors, creating the dramatic irony that a rage virus cure is walking around without being discovered. Samson could change everything, but for now, it seems that he’ll continue doing what he’s doing as his memories come back.

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28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Has One of the Wildest Horror Movie Endings Ever