What We Know about 28 Years Later: Release Date, New Trailer, and More

To say that 2002’s 28 Days Later changed the trajectory of ‘zombie’ films could very well be the understatement of the century. The movie, which was the brainchild of writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle, turned what were once a shambling, mindless undead horde into a rage-filled, free-running infected that literally couldn’t help themselves but seek and destroy.

Through the film, and its 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, we saw the collapse of England as the so-called ‘rage virus’ infected any and all it came in contact with. Man turned on man, military and governmental institutions failed, and anarchy won.

Now, more than two decades after the original launched, Garland and Boyle are giving us a ticket back into that world in the upcoming 28 Years Later – and we’ve got a pretty good look at what’s to come when the movie hits cinemas 19 June, 2025.

Check out the latest trailer below.

What we know about 28 Years Later

While the trailers shown so far haven’t actually touched on the story of the movie much at all, we do have a bit of an idea of what’s been happening in the world of 28 Years Later between movies. In a vignette, Boyle and Garland talk through how the world has evolved in the decades following 28 Weeks Later, and how humans continue to survive – both infected and not.

See, unlike other zombie franchises, the ‘zombies’ in 28 Years Later aren’t undead. They still need to eat, drink, and survive as any other human would – they’re just infected with a virus that fills them with a bloodthirsty rage. As such, initial conversations between Garland and Boyle largely centred around how such infected would survive 28 years, and what that would do to them.

“If the infection is still on Britain, what does the infection look like ? How does the rest of the world respond to that? Has the country been quarantined, essentially abandoned?” asked Garland.

Additionally, how would the surviving non-infected humans keep themselves safe from the running horde? According to Boyle, it’s largely through creating small, isolated pockets of community that are able to stay hidden and safe from the ‘mainland’.

For example, the film begins on Holy Island, a real place in the UK where mainland England is connected to a neighbouring island by a three-mile-long two-lane causeway which is swallowed by the tide multiple times a day – a very defendable entry point. While the infected can presumably swim, they can also drown, making the island a fairly safe place to settle and rebuild.

“We tried imagining how a world would rebuild itself after an apocalypse,” Boyle said.

While Holy Island delivers safety, it offers little else. Survivors have no electricity, and no fuel, and have largely returned to a simpler way of life working the land available to survive. In this context, the nearby mainland is a place of immense danger, but also opportunity.

In the trailer, we see Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character ‘Jamie’ head out onto the mainland for unknown reasons, and things start getting dangerous quickly: the infected roam the country side as predators, and while armed soldier are still present, they’re overwhelmed by the sheer brutality of those left behind.

Confirmed Cast

While there is some opportunity for survivors from previous films to return (both Cillian Murphy and Imogen Poots have expressed interest in returning to the franchise), it’s more likely that 28 Years Later will showcase an entirely new cast of characters.

Here’s everyone we know is in the movie so far, according to IMDB:

• Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie
• Jack O’Connell as Sir Jimmy Crystal
• Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Kelson
• Jodie Comer as Isla
• Erin Kellyman as Jimmy Ink
• Alfie Williams as Spike
• Edvin Ryding as E. Sundqvist
• Christopher Fulford as Sam
• Gordon Alexander as Jonno
• Angus Neil as ‘Emaciated Infected’
• Joe Blakemore as Dave
• Geoffrey Austin Newland as Anthony
• Kat Kitchener as Slow Low
• Ghazi Al Ruffai
• Nathan Hall
• Sam Locke
• Celi Crossland
• Maura Bird
• Sandy Batchelor
• Kim Allan
• Chi Lewsi-Parry
• Robert Rhodes
• Emma Laird

When Does ’28 Years Later’ Release?

It’s worth noting that 28 Years Later is the beginning of a new trilogy, with this film launching exclusively in cinemas on 19 June, 2025, a sequel called 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple launching on 16 January 2026, and a final, unnamed film planned, but with no date yet set.