28 Years Later is the "opposite" of what you'd expect from a zombie apocalypse sequel, says director Danny Boyle: "There is a reflection in them, of where you are and what's happened to you"

Director Danny Boyle says we can expect something a bit different from 28 Years Later, the direct sequel to his hit 2002 genre-changing zombie horror 28 Days Later.

“In fact, Alex [Garland] wrote one script at one point, but they were kind of what you'd expect," Boyle told IGN. "And by that I mean things that you expect from a sequel, like the virus is weaponized by a military or a government or a shady [organization]... That kind of thing. And neither of us were very taken by it. But then we began to discuss this idea of doing a much bigger project, which was a series of films that sort of did the opposite of spreading it to Europe and the world."

28 Days Later, directed by Boyle from a screenplay by Garland, hit theaters in 2002 and follows a bicycle courier (Cillian Murphy) who wakes up from a coma only to find that a virus (dubbed the 'rage virus') has all but destroyed society. Though Boyle doesn't necessarily consider the film a zombie movie (the same way The Last of Us isn't considered a zombie video game), the movie is credited with revamping the zombie subgenre.

"We turned back and looked at ourselves and we thought … it was very much like an England [type] film," he continued. "So we kind of narrowed it down. We did the opposite of what you'd expect and it was because we had a lot to think about. And certainly in terms of Britain, not uniquely, but certainly in terms of Brexit, it's unique. There's a couple of things that have happened to us in the intervening period since the first film that you thought, 'Well, this is the opportunity to look at that.' That's what you use these films for.' They're not lectures or anything like that, but they do reflect, or there is a reflection in them, of where you are and what's happened to you really as individuals and as people."

The new sequel, which stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes, follows a group of survivors who live away from the infected on a remote island - and make some horrifying discovers when they return to the mainland.

28 Years Later hits theaters on June 20, 2025. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond, or, check out our list of movie release dates.