Every 28 Years Later Surviving Character That Could Return for the Third Movie

When 28 Years Later was revealed to the world, it came not only with the promise of bringing back writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle but also with more than just one movie. The long-awaited sequel to the classic 2003 zombie movie wasn’t going to be birthed as a one-and-done follow-up; an entire trilogy of sequels was being planned. Now, here we are, two years after that initial announcement, with two of the three movies officially released and the hype for the third movie already at a high.

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There’s just one big question to be asked about the upcoming 28 Years Later 3…what characters will even appear in it? With four movies in the series now released, the list of people who didn’t make it out of the films alive would be much, much longer. The good news is that this means there’s a pretty shallow pool of returning cast members to pick from with the movie, so few that we can literally name them all here. It begs a second question, though: how many of them will even return? Naturally, spoilers for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple follow.

11) Jim (Cillian Murphy)

This one is officially a given, as Cillian Murphy’s involvement in 28 Years Later has been public from the beginning, with the actor finally reprising his role of Jim in the just-released 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. We already knew before that appearance that Murphy would be back for the third film in a major role, but his scene in The Bone Temple set the stage for a very specific kind of character that has gone through a lot of growth (and even revealed a little more of his actual personality). Even with how beloved 28 Days Later is, who would have guessed that Jim was a scholar of WWII history? Not only that, but he’s a chap still eager to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it.

10) Selena (Naomie Harris)

The ending of 28 Days Later confirmed that Jim wasn’t the only one who made it out alive, with Naomi Harris’ Selena still alive and kicking at the end as well. A spitfire and a fighter, Selena’s tenacity and resilience made her one of the best horror heroines of the 2000s, and we’re eager to see her return. Though she’s not seen in the final scene of The Bone Temple, there’s an implication that she’s still around.

9) Hannah (Megan Burns)

Yet another survivor of the events of 28 Days Later is Hannah, who is seen with Jim and Selena in their cottage at the end of the film. Once again, The Bone Temple does not make it clear if she’s still around, but the character could easily be back, having never died on screen (which means it’s just as easy to write her off). One complication is that star Megan Burns has seemingly pivoted to her music career and is no longer an actress, though perhaps she’ll make an exception for a return to her most notable role.

8) Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton)

Though the ending of 28 Weeks Later is marginally pessimistic compared to the other films in the series, lingering on European-wide sequel bait that was quickly hand-waved away by 28 Years Later. That said, two of the biggest characters from the film, Tammy and Andy, clearly survived. The slight complication to their inclusion is that Weeks played with the idea of immunity to the Rage virus, with the pair’s mother not susceptible to the virus, which is something that Years seems less interested in after Dr. Kelson appeared to have found a cure. There’s also the complication that the team behind 28 Years Later is not interested in bringing back any characters from the sequel they had no involvement with.

7) Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)

At the end of 28 Years Later, Jamie is in disbelief, his wife has died, and his only son has run away. He’s trapped in the community that he previously expressed so much affection for, with all of the things that kept him grounded gone. It’s a heartbreaking final moment, one that puts the character on a path toward a reunion with his son and perhaps the outside world in a major way.

6) Spike (Alfie Williams)

Though The Bone Temple is largely an ensemble movie, the larger arc of the 28 Years Later films has been about Spike’s own journey. Alfie Williams’ new character has been the beating heart of the two films so far, as a result, and given the ending of The Bone Temple, it’s nearly a guarantee he’ll have a big part in the next movie.

5) Baby Isla

One of the most unique characters to come from the entire franchise will almost certainly return in the third 28 Years Later film with Baby Isla. An infant born to parents infected with the rage virus, who seemingly has no infection herself and is potentially immune, Isla has one of the most distinct developments in terms of the entire world of 28 Years Later. The baby is also named for Spike’s deceased mother, giving her a unique place in Jamie’s life in addition to her larger standing in the entire universe.

4) The Other Islanders

As of the ending of 28 Years Later, the community in Holy Island is still standing, and along with it a host of other survivors who could return. Among them are characters like Sam, the old family friend of Jamie and Spike, or Jenny, one of the leadership council members, and, naturally, Rosey, the woman that Jamie was having an affair with in secret. Given the developments at the end of that film, it’s unclear if Jamie and Rosey will have figured things out on a more official basis.

3) Jimmy Ink/Kelly (Erin Kellyman)

Having survived the cruel tutelage of Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, Jimmy Ink throws off her platinum blonde wig at the end of The Bone Temple and reclaims her original name, Kelly. Together with Spike, she runs off to parts unknown, seemingly to be saved by Jim after the events of the film. One main reason we need to see Kelly return for the third film is that she’s just spent an untold amount of time in subservience to a violent maniac who called himself Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal and named all of his acolytes “Jimmy,” meaning we are desperate to see her face when her savior reveals himself to be named, “Jim.”

2) Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry)

One of the biggest surprises of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is how the film evolves Samson as a character. The hulking brute from the first film is given depth and dimension, with an actual arc at his disposal. By the end of the film he’s had his Rage Virus cured, and is cognizant enough to not only remember his life as a child before the infection but major details that he learned even while infected (like, say, Dr. Kelson’s name). A former Alpha cured of his Rage is a major wrinkle for the entire franchise, so his story is far from complete.

1) Sam (Maiya Eastmond)

Jim isn’t alone in the final sequence of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, as the film also reveals he has a daughter, Sam, played by newcomer Maiya Eastmond. Sam’s appearance seems to indicate that Jim and Selena had a daughter at some point after the first film, in addition to perhaps implying that they never got rescued after the first movie.

One of the most exciting things about the inclusion of Sam in The Bone Temple and her implied place in the third film is how she will immediately stand in opposition to Spike, not in terms of their beliefs in the world, but in quite literally how they were raised. Sam appears to have been given as normal a life as possible, by the standards of two parents who were in their late 20s in the early 2000s and have been confined to a post-apocalyptic UK, which stands pretty opposite of Spike’s life on Holy Island, which has returned to a tribal mentality with duties assigned to people based on their strengths. Not only that, Sam has an understanding of the world at large, which Spike is nearly clueless about, save an encounter with Swedish soldiers.