When 28 Days Later was released in 2002, no one probably expected that this nasty little horror thriller would change the zombie mythos forever. Fans and critics alike were thrilled. The film was also a complete success at the box office, so nothing stood in the way of a sequel.
However, 28 Weeks Later, released in 2007, no longer comes from the creative team of the original, namely director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland. No wonder the film makes its own decisions. But how does this fit in with the new trilogy, once again conceived by Boyle and Garland?
Horror revival: Danny Boyle isn’t too particular about the continuity of the 28 Days Later films
With 28 Years Later, the duo returns to the world of the infected and tells what happened in Great Britain 28 years after the first part. Will the new film also accept the ending of 28 Weeks Later, in which we learn in a drastic sequence that the rage virus has also spread to France, specifically Paris?
In the current print edition of Empire (via Collider), Garland says:
[28 Years Later] is not in direct conflict with [28 Weeks Later, aber] ‘Canon’ [ist] a word Danny Boyle couldn’t care less about.
Producer Andrew Macdonald adds:
[Die Filme] are not structured like a scientific formula.
You can watch the trailer for 28 Years Later here:
28 Years Later – Trailer (German) HD
This question is relevant because 28 Years Later puts the focus back on Great Britain. According to the latest rewrites of the film’s plot, the rest of the world was mostly spared from the Rage Virus. Garland explains his thoughts while writing the script for 28 Years Later:
I didn’t have Covid on my mind because it was too current and too present, but Brexit did. [Vor allem, wie der Rest der Welt begann, Großbritannien zu sehen.] A feeling that the globe is changing position. They turn their backs on us and don’t really look in that direction. They don’t give a damn [um Großbritannien].
Macdonald sums it up:
Nothing will be allowed into Britain and nothing will be let out. Britain has taken a break.
28 Years Later is officially a cinematic response to Brexit.
For further reading:
When does 28 Years Later start in cinemas?
On June 19, 2025 Danny Boyle and Alex Garland bring the horror series back to the big screen. 28 Years Later acts as the start of a new trilogy, which will be continued in January 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. The film stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes.