’28 Years Later’ Producer Shares Disappointing Update About Cillian Murphy’s Role

If you were super-pumped to see Cillian Murphy back as Jim in 28 Years Later, the forthcoming third film in the 28 Days Later franchise, and the first of a planned trilogy, it’s time to pump the brakes on your excitement. According to the film’s producer, Andrew Macdonald, the Oscar-winning actor will not be appearing in the movie. So for those hoping to find out what Murphy’s character Jim has been up to since the first film, we likely won’t get any answers in the first installment.

Speaking with Empire, Macdonald, who produced both 28 Days Later and its follow-up, 28 Weeks Later, among several other projects with director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland, says Murphy’s involvement in 28 Years Later is only as an executive producer.

“…[We] wanted him to be involved and he wanted to be involved,” Macdonald said. “He is not in the first film, but I’m hoping there will be some Jim somewhere along the line.”

So for now at least, fans will have to wait to see if Murphy will make an appearance in either of the subsequent sequels. However, unless he has already filmed scenes for the second installment, Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which has reportedly already wrapped production, then we’ll have to wait for the third film in the trilogy to find out what has become of Jim.

Fans thought they’d already spotted Jim in the trailer for 28 Years Later, as an emaciated zombie rising up in a field. But that turned out not to be the case. The emaciated zombie in question is played by Angus Neill, not Murphy, and the infected individual is not Jim.

’28 Years Later’ Is an Enigma Right Now Close

Very little is known about 28 Years Later at this point. It stars Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes, the latter of whom shared some tantalizing details about the plot of the film in an interview with IndieWire:

Britain is 28 years into this terrible plague of infected people who are violent, rabid humans with a few pockets of uninfected communities. And 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.

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Comer has also spoken publicly about the film, though she revealed little about the plot. Rather, the Killing Eve star stated that 28 Years Later will be thematically similar to the original movie, focusing more on human behavior than shock and gore.

28 Years Later is slated to hit theaters on June 20, 2025. Its sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, will be released on January 16, 2026. There is no release date currently set for the third installment.

28 Years Later Not Rated Horror Release Date June 20, 2025 Director Danny Boyle Cast Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Jodie Comer , Cillian Murphy , Jack O’Connell , Ralph Fiennes