28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Movie

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 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Movie

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a 2026 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Alex Garland. It was shot back-to-back with its predecessor 28 Years Later (2025), and serves as the fourth installment overall in the 28 Days Later film series. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, and Chi Lewis-Parry.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was released by Sony Pictures Releasing through its Columbia Pictures label in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2026, as part of a double bill with its predecessor, with the film being individually released the following day on 14 January. It was released in the United States on 16 January 2026, and received generally positive reviews from critics. The film has grossed $31.2 million worldwide.

Plot

Shortly after being rescued by the Fingers gang, led by the charismatic Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal,[a] Spike is initiated into the group following a forced fight to the death with Jimmy Shite. Sir Jimmy renames Spike "Jimmy," in keeping with his practice of giving all Fingers variations of the name, including the more empathetic Jimmy Ink and the sadistic Jimmima.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson continues his maintenance of the Bone Temple as an ossuary memorial to those killed following the initial outbreak, as well as interacting with the local Alpha he named Samson. Samson keeps returning to the Bone Temple, with Kelson deducing that he has grown addicted to the effects of the sedative from his blowpipe and is intentionally letting himself be drugged, becoming more lucid while under its influence. A friendship between the two appears to form, with Samson no longer feeling a compulsion to attack the uninfected Kelson, eating berries rather than raw meat, and at one point clothing himself. Kelson considers euthanising Samson until he hears the Alpha mutter the word "moon", leading Kelson to believe the virus is treatable.

The Fingers raid a farm inhabited by survivors, including a man named Tom and his pregnant partner Cathy. Cathy escapes while the others are captured, with Sir Jimmy ordering the Fingers to skin alive the remaining survivors as a sacrifice to Satan (whose voice Sir Jimmy claims to hear as his son), causing Spike to leave the barn vomiting in disgust. Sir Jimmy offers Tom a place among his Fingers if he wins a fight to the death like the one Spike participated in. Tom selects Jimmima as his opponent, believing her to be the weakest member, but is quickly outmatched. As Jimmima prepares to kill Tom, Cathy emerges from her hiding spot in the barn's loft and swings a hook that impales Jimmima’s skull, killing her. In the resulting confusion, Tom manages to set the barn on fire, killing a Finger and burning several others before being killed himself. As Cathy flees, Sir Jimmy dispatches Spike to capture her. Instead, Spike begs Cathy to take him with her. She feigns her agreement, then incapacitates Spike when his guard is down and successfully escapes.

With their numbers and morale depleted, Sir Jimmy lashes out at Spike for his failure to capture Cathy. An increasingly disaffected Ink intercedes, believing that Kelson is Satan because of his orange-dyed skin and interactions with Samson, and suggests that they visit him. Leading the survivors to the Bone Temple, Sir Jimmy confronts Kelson alone and threatens to kill him if he does not impersonate Satan in order to maintain the illusion for the Fingers.\

The following morning, Spike attempts to sneak away from Sir Jimmy's camp but is confronted by Jimmy Fox, who tries to kill him in retaliation for Jimmy Shite. Ink intervenes, killing Fox in defence of Spike, and they return to their camp claiming that Fox had attempted to flee in fear of Satan. At the Bone Temple, Kelson, fearing the worst, gives Samson a cocktail of anti-psychotics, suspecting that the hyper-aggression of the infected is actually caused by psychosis. Following this, Samson is drawn to the nearby abandoned train where he was initially infected. He hallucinates, experiencing a memory of riding the train in his childhood. In his hallucination, he is approached by a train guard asking for his ticket; when he tells her, "I don't have a ticket" aloud, the infected in the train car attack him as if he was uninfected.

That night, Kelson plays along with Sir Jimmy’s plan to regain control over the Fingers by impersonating Satan through a pyrotechnic-laden performance of Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast" while exposing them to hallucinogenics. However, upon recognizing Spike, Kelson attempts to persuade the gang to crucify Sir Jimmy to save Spike. Sir Jimmy, seeking to end the ruse that Kelson is Satan and avoid crucifixion, fatally stabs Kelson, only for Spike to then stab Sir Jimmy as Ink kills the other remaining Fingers. Spike comforts the dying Kelson, while Ink impales Sir Jimmy on an inverted cross. Spike and Ink—who reveals her name to be Kelli— leave into the wilderness. Samson arrives, whom Sir Jimmy hallucinates as Satan, and greets the dying Kelson by name and thanks him. After Kelson succumbs to his wounds his body is carried away by Samson, while Sir Jimmy is left to be killed by the infected.

Some time later, Kelli and Spike are attempting to escape a group of infected, unaware they are observed by Jim[b] and his daughter Sam, who rush to help them.

Cast

  • Ralph Fiennes as Dr Ian Kelson, a former GP dedicated to memorialising the victims of the epidemic.
  • Jack O'Connell as Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, a psychopathic gang leader who styles himself after Jimmy Savile.[6]
  • Alfie Williams as Spike, a teenager who is on a personal quest on the mainland.
  • Erin Kellyman as Jimmy Ink / Kelli, one of the Fingers, who befriends Spike.
  • Chi Lewis-Parry as "Samson", a physically imposing Alpha leader of the infected.
  • Emma Laird as Jimmima, one of the Fingers.
  • Sam Locke as Jimmy Fox, one of the Fingers.[7]
  • Robert Rhodes as Jimmy Jimmy, one of the Fingers.
  • Ghazi Al Ruffai as Jimmy Snake, one of the Fingers.[7]
  • Maura Bird as Jimmy Jones, one of the Fingers.
  • Connor Newall as Jimmy Shite, one of the Fingers.[8]
  • Louis Ashbourne Serkis as Tom, a male survivor.
  • Mirren Mack as Cathy, a pregnant survivor.
  • David Sterne as George, a male survivor.

Cillian Murphy makes an uncredited appearance as Jim, a former bicycle courier and survivor of the original outbreak. Murphy reprises his role from 28 Days Later,[9] with his appearance in The Bone Temple's ending serving as his character's reintroduction which sets up the planned third film.[10] Sam, Jim's daughter, is portrayed by an uncredited Maiya Eastmond.

Development

In April 2024, a sequel to 28 Years Later (2025) was reportedly in development, with Nia DaCosta in talks to direct the film, taking over from Danny Boyle, and Alex Garland returning to write the screenplay.[15] In June 2024, via a copyright filing, the title of the film was seemingly revealed to be 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple.[16]

Feeling "protective of the legacy" of the franchise,[17] Nia DaCosta's pitch for the film was to avoid copying Danny Boyle's directorial style to instead create a personal and idiosyncratic work,[18] and requested Alex Garland have more infected added to the script.[19] Though Boyle and Garland oversaw the film, they allowed DaCosta creative freedom and did not interfere with her directing process.[20] In December 2024, Aaron Taylor-Johnson seemingly revealed his character will not return for the film, yet admitted "we did one and two back to back".[21] DaCosta collaborated with Boyle in creating the character Samson during the development of the previous film, as the character features prominently in The Bone Temple.[19]

The sequel continued collaborations with key production partners from the previous film: produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Decibel Films and DNA Films, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, and executive producers including Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice, and Bernie Bellew.[22]

Ralph Fiennes stated the film explores themes juxtaposing human violence with innate humanity amid brutality and the infected.[23] DaCosta stated that while the theme of the previous film was about the nature of family, The Bone Temple would be about the nature of evil, which would lead the next film to be about the nature of redemption.

Filming

Principal photography began on 19 August 2024, with Sean Bobbitt serving as cinematographer, replacing Anthony Dod Mantle from the previous film.[25] As filming began approximately three weeks after the completion of the preceding film, production required logistical coordination due to overlapping characters and locations, including casting decisions for characters appearing in both films.[17] In September 2024, Cillian Murphy was spotted filming in Ennerdale, Cumbria with a crew reportedly attached to the film.[26] The Bone Temple set was constructed in Redmire, North Yorkshire and the opening scene set in an abandoned leisure centre was filmed at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre in Bradford which has been closed since 2019.[27][28]

According to Ralph Fiennes, while Danny Boyle’s direction in the preceding film was instinctive and fast-paced with a clear vision of desired moments, Nia DaCosta’s approach was more deliberate and meticulous, particularly in close-up shots, allowing actors additional time to develop subtle aspects of their performances.[29][20] In contrast to the previous film being filmed on iPhone 15 Pro cameras, The Bone Temple was filmed using the Arri Alexa 35 digital camera.[30][31]

Chi Lewis-Parry reprised his role as the Alpha infected Samson, portraying the character as having a more subdued demeanour due to frequent sedation by Fiennes's Dr Ian Kelson.[32] A scene in which Dr Kelson and Samson dance to Duran Duran's "Rio" was not part of the original script but instead was improvised during filming.[32] To portray Samson, Chi Lewis-Parry wore a full-body prosthetic body suit.[32] Each suit took seven artists six to eight hours to apply and could only be used once, so the process had to be repeated more than 25 times during filming.[32] For close-up or waist-up shots, simpler partial prosthetics were used

Release

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was first released in the United Kingdom by Sony Pictures Releasing on 13 January 2026 as part of a double bill with 28 Years Later,[35] before being released individually the following day on 14 January, with the film being released in the United States on 16 January 2026.[36] The first trailer was released on 3 September 2025.[37] The second trailer was released on 3 December

Box office

The film was initially expected to make $20–22 million over the four day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend.[39][40] However, it underperformed domestically, earning $13 million over the three-day weekend and an estimated $15 million over the four-day holiday period.[39] The film grossed an additional $16.2 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to approximately $31 million.[39] This represented a weaker US domestic opening compared to its predecessor 28 Years Later, which debuted to $30 million over a traditional three-day weekend.[39]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 234 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A direct continuation of 28 Years Later that ups the gore while deepening the dread, The Bone Temple is finely adorned by Nia DaCosta's unnerving direction as well as Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell's inspired performances."[41] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 55 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[42] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, up from its predecessor's "B" grade. Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, with 72% saying that they would definitely recommend the film.[43]

Sequel

The film was announced as part of a planned trilogy,[25] with Garland serving as screenwriter for all three.[44] In January 2025, Boyle confirmed that he would direct the final film in the trilogy.[45] That September, Murphy said that the third film would only be produced if audiences "go and see the second one".[10] That December, Deadline reported industry buzz that Sony was proceeding with a potential third installment prior to the film’s theatrical release, with Cillian Murphy in talks to reprise his role as Jim and Alex Garland writing the script, though no official confirmation had been announced.

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