28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is scheduled to be released by Sony Pictures Releasing in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2026, and in the United States on 16 January 2026. A sequel to The Bone Temple is in development.
Premise
Taking place after the events of the previous film, Spike is inducted into Sir Jimmy Crystal's gang of acrobatic killers in a post-apocalyptic Britain ravaged by the Rage Virus. Meanwhile, Dr Ian Kelson forms a new relationship with potentially world-changing consequences.[3]
Maura Bird as Jimmy Jones, a member of the Jimmys.
Ghazi Al Ruffai as Jimmy Snake, a member of the Jimmys.[5]
Sam Locke as Jimmy Fox, a member of the Jimmys.[5]
Cillian Murphy as Jim, a former bicycle courier and survivor of the original outbreak. Murphy reprises his role from 28 Days Later,[6] with his appearance in The Bone Temple's ending serving as his character's reintroduction which sets up the planned third film.[7]
In April 2024, a sequel to 28 Years Later (2025) was reportedly in development, with Nia DaCosta in talks to direct the film, taking over from Danny Boyle, and Alex Garland returning to write the screenplay.[8] In June 2024, via a copyright filing, the title of the film was seemingly revealed to be 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple.[9]
Feeling "protective of the legacy" of the franchise,[10] Nia DaCosta's pitch for the film was to avoid copying Danny Boyle's directorial style to instead create a personal and idiosyncratic work,[11] and requested Alex Garland have more infected added to the script.[12] In December 2024, Aaron Taylor-Johnson seemingly revealed his character will not return for the film, yet admitted "we did one and two back to back".[13] DaCosta collaborated with Boyle in creating the character Samson during the development of the previous film, as the character will feature prominently in The Bone Temple.[12]
Ralph Fiennes stated the film explores themes juxtaposing human violence with innate humanity amid brutality and the infected.[15] DeCosta stated the while the theme of the previous film first was about the nature of family, Bone Temple would be about the nature of evil, which would lead the next film to be about the nature of redemption.[16]
Filming
Principal photography began on 19 August 2024.[17] As filming began approximately three weeks after the completion of the preceding film, production required logistical coordination due to overlapping characters and locations, including casting decisions for characters appearing in both films.[10] In September 2024, Cillian Murphy was spotted filming in Ennerdale, Cumbria with a crew reportedly attached to the film.[18] The Bone Temple set was constructed in Redmire, North Yorkshire.[19] According to Ralph Fiennes, while Danny Boyle’s direction in the preceding film was instinctive and fast-paced with a clear vision of desired moments, Nia DaCosta’s approach was more deliberate and meticulous, particularly in close-up shots, allowing actors additional time to develop subtle aspects of their performances.[20]
Chi Lewis-Parry reprised his role as the Alpha infected Samson, portraying the character as having a more subdued demeanor due to frequent sedation by Fiennes's Dr. Ian Kelson.[21] A scene in which Dr. Kelson and Samson dance to Duran Duran's "Rio" was not part of the original script but instead was improvised during filming.[21] To portray Samson, Chi Lewis-Parry wore a full-body prosthetic body suit.[21] Each suit took seven artists six to eight hours to apply and could only be used once, so the process had repeated more than 25 times during filming.[21] For close-up or waist-up shots, simpler partial prosthetics were used.[21]
Release
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is scheduled to be released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on 16 January 2026.[22] The first trailer was released on 3 September 2025.[23] The second trailer was released three months after the first trailer, on 3 December 2025.[24]
Sequel
The film was announced as part of a planned trilogy,[17] with Garland serving as screenwriter for all three.[25] In January 2025, Boyle confirmed that he would direct the final film in the trilogy.[26] That September, Murphy said that the third film would only be produced if audiences "go and see the second one".[7] In December that same year, it was announced that Sony was officially moving forward with the third film following the early responses to The Bone Temple, with Murphy in talks to reprise his role as Jim and Garland confirmed to write the film.[27]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
