- First official 28 Years Later trailer has arrived
- Original star Cillian Murphy is surprisingly absent
- However, fans are convinced they’ve spotted him in the trailer
28 Years Later is almost with us and fans have been treated to the film’s first official trailer – and maybe a first glimpse at star Cillian Murphy.
Well, perhaps ‘treated’ isn’t the best choice of words for a film about a world turned upside down by a bloody zombie apocalypse. Still, fans have enjoyed diving into this first look at director Danny Boyle’s return to the franchise.
Read more: Everything we know about 28 Years Later
Set years after his 2002 original, 28 Days Later and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, 28 Years Later finally brings the series’ core creatives back together for a new story. This includes original film star Cillian Murphy and screenwriter Alex Garland.
Arriving alongside the dispiriting tagline “Time didn’t heal anything”, the 28 Years Later trailer backs this up with eerie imagery. With an ominous spoken-word song ramping up the tension, Boyle’s first teaser shows us snippets of his new cast as they tackle an evolved threat and try their best to survive.
Glimpses of new series stars like Ralph Feinnes and Aaron Taylor Johnson were shared but someone who was mysteriously absent was Murphy’s character Jim – or was he?
Cillian Murphy in the 28 Years Later trailer
Eagle-eyed fans are convinced that Murphy briefly appears in the 28 Years Later trailer in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-moment.
If you skip to the 1.53-minute mark, you’ll see a skeletal figure rise from a field. It didn’t take long for viewers to notice that this individual has a very familiar face.
“Cillian Murphy stuns in first look in #28YearsLater” joked one user on X.
Cillian Murphy stuns in first look in #28YearsLater pic.twitter.com/m2hU02WIh1
— Will Landman 🍥 (@WillTheLandMan) December 10, 2024
“Cillian Murphy looks SICKENING in #28YearsLater” said another.
Cillian Murphy looks SICKENING in #28YearsLater https://t.co/MQpCatDZF9 pic.twitter.com/13bhuCDGyg
— Juanónimo (@jwanonimo) December 10, 2024
Others were more doubtful. “No way is this Cillian Murphy in 28 Years Later” said one X post.
No way this is Cillian Murphy in 28 Years Later pic.twitter.com/FLsZrDJm9H
— Eron J. (@eronjbutler) December 10, 2024
What happened to Cillian Murphy’s character in 28 Days Later?
For those who need a refresher, Murphy played bike courier Jim in Boyle’s original 28 Days Later movie. When we first meet him he’s just woken up from a coma after an accident and he stumbles into a world that’s been overrun by a virus that transforms people into rage-fuelled zombies.
When we last left Jim, he was living safely on an island with a small group of survivors. It has yet to be confirmed whether or not this skeletal figure is Jim – but if it is, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a zombie.
As mentioned in the movie’s plot synopsis, 28 Years Later will show us how the rage virus has evolved and mutated.
“When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well,” reads the plot line.
Could these mutations lead to a new form of human-zombie hybrid – and if so, could Jim now be one of them?
It would match up nicely with comments made by Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman Tom Rothman who said that Murphy will be back in “a surprising way.”
Only time will tell.
When is it released?
28 Years Later will hit American cinemas on 20 June 2025. It will be released on the same date in the United Kingdom.
The film will kick-start a new trilogy with Candyman filmmaker Nia DaCosta directing 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple.
