- The second 28 Years Later trailer has dropped
- It features a better look at Ralph Fiennes new character
- Is he good or bad? Here’s what we know so far…
With the new 28 Years Later trailer ripping through the internet like the infected undead, fans have been wondering about Ralph Fiennes character.
Who exactly is he – and more importantly – is he good or bad?
The hotly anticipated second trailer for director Danny Boyle’s upcoming horror movie dropped in mid-April.
Read more: Rage intensifies in new 28 Years Later trailer
In it, we’re welcomed back into a world that has spent the past three decades running for its life from hoards of people infected by a lab-leaked virus that transforms them into rage zombies.
For part two, Boyle reteams with original 28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland. Here, the story is transported to a tranquil island where a group of survivors have carved out a relatively safe existence thanks to their distance to the infected mainland.
Read more: What is the audio in the 28 Years Later trailer?
However, when a rites of passage trip back to wider civilisation goes wrong, the movie’s group of survivors are plunged back into chaos. What’s more, by the looks of things, it isn’t just infection that they have to worry about now, with long-standing survivors appearing to lose their grip on what’s right and wrong.
One character in the centre of this mental malström is played by Fiennes – but is he good or bad? Here’s what we know so far.
Who does Ralph Fiennes play in 28 Years Later?
According to the film’s cast list, Fiennes plays a character named Dr. Kelson, he’s a long-standing survivor of the original Rage virus outbreak depicted in Boyle’s first film 28 Days Later.
So far, both trailers for the sequel have depicted him as a tough, muscle-bound loner who’s frequently pictured around masses of stacked bones and skulls.
This could mean Dr. Kelson plays a larger role in the movie’s already-shot follow-up, The Bone Temple. In fact, we already know that his character appears in that movie.
Speaking to Empire, Fiennes himself shed some more light on this mysterious figure. “He’s a survivor, and the way he survived is very interesting,” he told the outlet, adding that “he’s quite out-there in his views on the world.
“I think audiences will assume something about him and then see where it goes,” he said cryptically.
“A much bigger part of the next one”
This is illustrated in a brief but resonant moment in the new 28 Years Later trailer.
In it, we see Dr. Kelson speaking to a faceless figure (could it be Jodi Comer’s pregnant Isla?) where he utters an eerie and ominous line.
“There are many kinds of death,” he says a little too calmly, “and some are better than others.”
Meanwhile, Fiennes has also spoken about Dr. Kelson’s role in the wider franchise, telling Empire he has “a much bigger part of the next one.”
Boyle chimed in too, adding “He strides forward into the second film in an enormous way… where the question of what he’s after and what he wants to do gets fully resolved.”
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is directed by The Marvels filmmaker Nia DaCosta and has already been shot. It’s set for release in January 2026.
