“28 Years Later” sequel confirms “Bone Temple” title, sets 2026 release

We're still six months away from the release of 28 Years Later, the years-in-the-making sequel to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, and already we're getting some hints about the next movie in the franchise.

28 Years Later will be the start of a new trilogy set decades after the events of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 2002 horror classic starring Cillian Murphy. It'll hit theaters June 20, 2025, but Sony has now set an official release date for the following chapter, which filmed back-to-back with 28 Years Later.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a title that had previously leaked but is now formally confirmed, is slated for release Jan. 16, 2026, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. We know that The Marvels and Candyman filmmaker Nia DaCosta is directing the movie, after Boyle helmed 28 Years Later. Garland wrote the screenplays for the new movies, and he and Boyle remain producers on The Bone Temple. Murphy is also executive-producing both movies, though his involvement as Jim, the character he played in 28 Days Later, hasn't been revealed. Some theorized it was that zombie-looking dude in the 28 Years Later trailer, but that has since been debunked.

Related: 28 Years Later trailer is all the rage (virus): Get your first look at the Cillian Murphy sequel

There might've been some clues as to the title for the next sequel in that trailer, however.

To recap: 28 Days Later saw Murphy's Jim, a bike courier, wake in a hospital bed to find society severely unraveled by a so-called "rage virus," which depletes mental capacities and incites aggression among the infected. (So… zombies basically.) 28 Years Later picks up nearly three decades later, where there are those who figured out how to exist in a world of strict quarantines and roaming infected.

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The new story focuses on a group of survivors living on a small island, which is connected to the mainland by a single, heavily guarded causeway. Ralph Fiennes, who stars alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer, previously explained, "It centers on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother. He leads his mother through this beautiful Northern English terrain. But, of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected. But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good."

Fiennes plays said doctor, and it's presumed (but not confirmed yet by the studio) that Alfie Williams plays the boy and Comer plays the mother.

Related: Cillian Murphy will be back for 28 Years Later but 'in a surprising way,' says Sony Pictures chairman

The trailer released earlier this month became the second-most-watched horror trailer of all time behind It: Chapter Two. One scene in the footage shows Comer and Fiennes' characters moving among a man-made forest where the trees appear to be comprised of bones. In the center is, essentially, a Christmas tree of stacked bones. (Happy holidays!) Could this be the titular Bone Temple?

The new preview's response was so great that Sony released 28 Days Later on digital for purchase and rental, so you have plenty of time to think about that while reminding yourself of all that went down in the original film.

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