Cillian Murphy’s 28 Years Later Return Gets the Update That Fans Have Been Dying To Hear

Cillian Murphy’s Jim is finally set to return to the 28 Years Later franchise, over 20 years on from 28 Days Later. The Oscar-winner was conspicuously absent from Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s belated sequel, having also been missing from the original movie’s first follow-up, 28 Weeks Later. 28 Years Later‘s ending was more focused on Jimmy than Jim, introducing a gang of Jimmy Savile-inspired characters, led by one played by Jack O’Connell, which will continue into the next movie.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will feature the Jimmies gang among its main characters, but that won’t be where the franchise ends. According to Deadline, a third movie is moving forward, which will once again be written by Garland and has Murphy in talks to star. This has long been the hope for the rebooted franchise, but while the first two movies were green lit at the same time and filmed back-to-back, Sony was waiting to see how things performed before confirming the third installment. Clearly, the powers that be have been sufficiently impressed with what they’ve seen.

Cillian Murphy’s Return Is Great For 28 Years Later’s Future

The news of 28 Years Later Part 3, which does not yet have an official title, follows on from the early reactions to The Bone Temple. These were overwhelmingly positive, including one saying it’s among the “best horror movies of the last decade.” It seems that it’s a step-up even from the first movie, and there’s clearly a lot of confidence in it. 28 Years Later made a franchise-best $151 million at the box office, on a budget of $60m. If the sequel can repeat that performance, it’ll be doing well, and there’s obviously an expectation of that.

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Of course, Murphy’s return should also boost the third movie when it eventually happens, and could make it the biggest of the bunch. He’s not only a star after the success of Oppenheimer, but Jim was the original main character of the series, and there’s a lot of anticipation for his return. That’s actually slated to happen in The Bone Temple, but only in a very small capacity, with what will likely be a cameo serving as a coda to set up the third film. That itself is good, but him then taking on the lead role, and likely bringing the full story to a close, will be an even bigger deal.

Alongside Murphy, it’s also expected that Boyle will be back for the final installment as well. That’s not yet confirmed, with Nia DaCosta having taken over directing duties for The Bone Temple, but he has previously said he hopes to be the one helming the third movie. If Boyle, Garland, and Murphy are all back, that would finally reunite the three biggest parts of 28 Days Later. It remains to be seen, however, whether any other actors, such as Naomie Harris as Selena, will be back as well, but it certainly seems a lot more plausible now.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be released in theaters on 16th January, 2026.

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