A few weeks ago, Alfie Williams—purposely?—reignited speculation that a third “28 Years Later” film may still be moving forward, despite months of uncertainty surrounding the franchise’s future.
The new speculation came from Williams’ Instagram, where he posted a photo showing him practicing archery alongside the caption, “It’s great to be back!” This led some to believe that the threequel was in pre-production.
We ran out of time. It’s set in an area of Britain [where] you can only film in certain times of the year. We ran out of time this year – we literally ran out of time. So it’ll be, hopefully, next year. But there’s the enthusiasm there and Alex (Garland) has done a wonderful script for it.
Well, let’s all stay calm now. A new interview with Danny Boyle, via JoBlo, for the 30th anniversary of “Trainspotting,” has the filmmaker finally tackling the status of the third “28 Years Later” movie, which, according to him, is still being planned. Still, it’s nowhere near pre-production. Alfie fooled y’all.
This doesn’t really read as Boyle being confident that he will definitely shoot it next year. The wording he uses—“we ran out of time,” “it’ll be, hopefully, next year”—is clearly conditional and schedule-dependent rather than a firm commitment. He’s explaining a practical delay, and the “hopefully” signals uncertainty rather than certainty. Even though he adds that the enthusiasm is there and the script is ready, the overall tone is still cautious.
Last year, Boyle confessed that the plan was to shoot the third film in 2026 ““after the first two films prove successful.”
The timing of this latest update comes after this year’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” earned strong reviews but faltered at the box office. Director Nia DaCosta recently admitted she was “disappointed” by its performance, while Sony Pictures Entertainment has remained silent about the planned third film from Boyle and Garland.
Furthermore, “The Bone Temple” has reportedly struggled to gain traction on streaming, including a weak debut on Netflix, even as some fans continue to defend it as one of the franchise’s strongest entries with potential cult status.
Would Sony, which reportedly lost around $30M on “The Bone Temple,” actually go ahead with a third film? Internally, there has clearly been hesitation, but the return of original 2002 star Cillian Murphy—which is understood to be part of the plan—could be enough to convince Sony that third time might be the charm, and that the franchise still has a chance at a more lucrative final installment.