According to Danny Boyle, the director behind the original 28 Days Later, the film’s screenwriter Alex Garland has a “lovely idea” for a potential third film. In an interview with NME, Boyle, whose other directing credits include the Trainspotting series, Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, and most recently, the Sex Pistols biopic series, admitted he’d be “very tempted” to direct the threequel.
“It feels like a very good time actually. It’s funny, I hadn’t thought about it until you just said it, and I remembered ‘Bang, this script!’ which is again set in England, very much about England. Anyway, we’ll see… who knows?” the director teased.
“It might come back into focus because one of the things that’s happening in the business at the moment is it has to be a big reason for you to go to the cinema, because there are less and less reasons,” Boyle continued. He added that a third film “would get people in, if it was half-decent.”
Cillian Murphy, who played a breakthrough role as Jim in the first movie, admitted that “every time I do bump into Danny or Alex I always mention it. Because I showed it to my kids recently, some Halloween about four or five years ago, and they loved it. It really stands up, which is amazing for a film that’s 20 years old. So yeah, I love the idea and it’s very appealing to me.”
Alex Garland’s other writing credits include Sunshine, Dredd, Ex Machina, and Annihilation. In 2007, 28 Days Later was followed by a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo stars Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Renner, Idris Elba, and Imogen Poots. The original film further stars Naomi Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Noah Huntley, and Christopher Eccleston.
