‘28 Years Later’ in the Works — Danny Boyle to Direct, Alex Garland Writing the Script

In 2003, Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” was released and kickstarted a revival of the zombie genre. Its cultural impact on TV and movies is still being felt.

Let’s, for a moment, forget about 2007’s “28 Weeks Later” and concentrate on today’s THR report that Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland are working on a sequel. Maybe even a trilogy of sequels.

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the director and writer of the 2002 movie, are reuniting for 28 Years Later, a new zombie thriller that is expected to hit studios, streamers and other potential buyers later this week, according to multiple sources.

Boyle is attached to direct the first film. Garland would write all three. The budget for each movie would be around $75 million. No details were given on plot, characters and production dates. There will most likely be a bidding war for the rights to these.

“A few years ago an idea materialized in my head for what would be really 28 Years Later,” Garland told Inverse, adding that “Danny always liked the idea” of jumping into the future, 28 years later.

Let’s just hope that this sequel turns out to be better than Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s “28 Weeks Later,” which was too slick and less creatively ambitious than its predecessor. Boyle and Garland did not have creative input on that film, and it showed.

Garland seems to agree that “28 Weeks Later” was a dud, in fact, he says it almost ruined the first film for him:

“I resisted [making a sequel] for a long time because there were things about 28 Weeks that bugged me, I just thought, ‘F*ck that. I’d rather try to write a different story in a different world.’”

The last film Boyle directed was 2019’s “Yesterday,” a sweet but very slight Beatles-themed romcom that felt like an anomaly within Boyle’s usually grim filmography. Boyle’s other notable works include “Trainspotting,” “127 Hours,” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”