28 Years Later

Both the trailer and the film feature a distinctive recording of Rudyard Kipling's poem "Boots," read by actor Taylor Holmes in 1915. The poem's repetitive rhythm evokes the marching of British soldiers during the Boer War, and this recording of it was used by the US military to simulate the psychological distress of being held captive.

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The sequel was initially to be titled "28 Months Later," following the title motif set by the film's timeline. However, since that much time had passed since our last visit to this world (28 Weeks Later, 2007), it was decided that "28 Years Later" was the more accurate title.

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Cillian Murphy, whose character survived the events of 28 Days Later (2002), does not appear in the film, though at the time the producers implied he would return in one of the planned sequels. Viewers nonetheless spotted a scene in the trailer featuring an emaciated zombie who suspiciously resembled Murphy. Fan speculation was quickly shut down when art dealer Angus Neill suggested he would appear in the film and be seen in the trailer as a skin-and-bones zombie. Director Danny Boyle took responsibility for the misunderstanding: "I showed the trailer to my girlfriend and she said, 'People are going to think that's Cillian.' I said, 'Don't be silly.' I ignored her. I've eaten a bit of humble pie since."

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Producer/writer Danny Boyle stated after the premiere of 28 Weeks Later (2007) that the third film in the series was being conceived as "28 Months Later," but writer Alex Garland said in 2010: "When we made 28 Days Later (2002), the rights were frozen between a group of people who are no longer talking to each other. So the film will never happen unless these people start talking to each other again. There's no script at the moment. As far as I know." After years of little progress, Boyle and Garland finally announced in 2019 that they were working on the project again, and in 2023 they confirmed it was ready to go into production. The film finally gained traction in 2024 when producer Andrew Macdonald managed to buy the rights to the first film from Searchlight Pictures and then sold them to Sony Pictures on the condition that they agree to finance the sequels. Boyle offered Garland the directing option, but Garland said he wanted to focus on writing after directing Civil War (2024) and Warfare (2025) almost back to back.

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Although the ending of 28 Weeks Later (2007) shows the Rage virus crossing the British border and reaching Paris, this sequel shows the 28 Years Later (2025) outbreak being kept under control in the United Kingdom, which remains strictly quarantined after the virus was pushed back from the European mainland. Director Danny Boyle, who served only as producer and second unit director on 28 Weeks Later, said that film had no problem, but for his own sequel he ignored that ending and made Britain the only place where the virus is still active. In a 2025 Reddit AMA, writer Alex Garland stated that a nuclear bomb was probably dropped shortly after the Infected arrived in Paris, so the viral spread into the European mainland was quickly halted.

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By the time this was released, the sequel — 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) — had already been shot.

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The genitals in the film were simulated with photorealistic prosthetics. This was because Alfie Williams (Spike) was 13 years old during filming, which for legal reasons required all depictions of frontal nudity to be simulated.

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In the scene where Jamie first brings Spike to the mainland, black-and-white footage from 28 Weeks Later (2007) is shown among other archive images.

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The world-famous Sycamore Gap tree can be seen in two scenes as a digital recreation, since the real tree was illegally cut down in 2023. Also known as the Robin Hood tree, the Sycamore Gap tree was a 120-year-old sycamore near Crag Lough in Northumberland, England, beside Hadrian's Wall. Set in a striking dip in the landscape created by melting glacial water, the tree was one of the country's most photographed trees and an emblem of North East England. Its nickname derives from the tree featured in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman Empire as a defensive fort for the Roman province of Britannia, which covered the southern half of the island of Britain. Construction of the wall began in 122 AD on the orders of Roman Emperor Caesar Hadrianus, to protect Roman settlements from attacks by the island's native inhabitants, the Caledonians and the Picts. Hadrian's Wall has featured prominently in many films, including King Arthur (2004), and was part of the inspiration for the Wall in Game of Thrones (2011). The Sycamore Gap tree was illegally cut down in the early hours of 28 September 2023, in an act of public vandalism investigated by Northumberland Police. Two men from Cumbria, aged 38 and 31, were arrested in October 2023 and charged in April 2024 with criminal damage to both the tree and the wall after filming the felling on their mobile phones and keeping a blade as a trophy. On 15 July 2025, both men were convicted on all charges, fined £700,000 and sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison, with the earliest possible parole date of 30 January 2028. Because the tree's felling would not occur in the film's timeline due to the 2002 Rage virus outbreak, the tree was digitally resurrected for the film.

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At the end of the film, the intonation Jack O'Connell (as Sir Jimmy Crystal) uses when saying "Hello!" is a misdirect for the audience. It references the archive audio of Cillian Murphy's character Jim in 28 Days Later (2002).

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The brief shots of medieval archers that intersect with the live action in the film are taken from Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V (1944). Olivier himself appears briefly as the king.

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Erik refers to the Alphas as 'bärsärk', Norse warriors said to fight in trance-like fits of rage (sometimes while naked), from the Swedish word meaning 'frenzied'.

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At the very beginning, an episode of Teletubbies (1997) is shown on television. At the end, as the Jimmys fight the incoming Infected, the Teletubbies theme song begins before turning into a metal track, foreshadowing Jimmy Crystal's warped worldview.

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The characters look at the 1998 Angel of the North sculpture and claim it will stand forever. It is made of long-lasting COR-TEN weathering steel, but its weld points and other parts will need repair by the end of the 21st century because the Angel is rusting.

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One of Jodie Comer's goals when she began her acting career was to appear in a Danny Boyle film, so she took the chance to appear in this one.

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Danny Boyle admitted he regretted making the Alphas naked, because half the shots he wanted could not be used for being too uncensored.

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Chi Lewis-Parry, who plays Alpha Samson, is a former professional MMA fighter with a 9-2 win record. He last weighed 244 pounds in 2020 and stood 6'7".

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Alex Garland initially wrote a specific script for "28 Months Later" in which the rage virus is weaponized by a military power, prompting a team of Chinese special forces to search for the original laboratory where the virus was developed in order to create a vaccine. Although Danny Boyle liked the script, he felt the idea of a company or government weaponizing the virus was an overly conventional, overused horror trope, and drew comparisons to Alien (1979) and the Resident Evil (2002) series. Garland rewrote the draft as a script trilogy beginning with 28 Years Later; Boyle found it equally well written but far more original and ambitious.

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Both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams learned to use a bow and arrow for the film. Taylor-Johnson was quite envious of 13-year-old Williams's archery skill.

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The first trailer received 60 million online views within its first 24 hours.

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Although the first two films were released under the Fox Searchlight Pictures banner, the rights to the film have since passed to the filmmakers, who sold the distribution rights to Columbia Pictures at auction.

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Kelson's line "Alas, poor Erik!" is a parody of "Alas, poor Yorick!" from Act 5, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ralph Fiennes is an acclaimed Shakespearean actor.

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A variety of cameras and lenses were used to shoot the film, including iPhone 16 Pros modified with professional lenses, which allowed the crew to leave a light footprint on the set in the English countryside. For action scenes, such as the one in which Jamie and Spike shoot infected people with arrows, a Steadicam-style harness rig holding more than 15 iPhone 16 Pros lined up side by side was used to achieve a bullet-time effect.

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Kelson diagnoses Isla with a type of fatal brain cancer, telling her it either began as breast cancer that metastasized and spread to her brain or as brain cancer that spread to her breasts. Isla most likely had what is known as metastatic brain cancer, caused by cancer elsewhere in the body (often lymphoma in the lungs or breasts) metastasizing and spreading to the brain. Judging by her symptom set, she had multiple brain tumors, likely at least three: confusion, nosebleeds, disregard for her own safety, loss of awareness of her surroundings, and depression and wild mood swings point to a frontal lobe tumor, since that is the region of the brain that controls personality, behavior and judgment; intermittent retrograde amnesia (inability to recall memories), delusions, angry outbursts and severe headaches point to a temporal lobe tumor, the part of the brain responsible for memory and processing sensory input; and intermittent anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories) indicates a tumor in the hippocampus, a small region deep within the temporal lobe responsible for forming memories. Taking all these symptoms into account, Dr. Kelson's prognosis was correct: Isla had at most a few months and most likely only a few weeks left. The severity of her headaches would continue to increase, and without an adequate supply of strong painkillers such as morphine or oxycodone, the pain would become unbearable to the end. So Kelson euthanizing her was indeed an act of mercy.

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The railway scenes were shot on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway in Yorkshire, England. Class 31 31452 was hired specifically for the film.

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It was released 18 years after 28 Weeks Later (2007).

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Third-billed Jack O'Connell appears only in the closing minutes of the film and is on screen for just 58 seconds.

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The first film in the 28 series… It would later be given a 15 certificate for its release in the United Kingdom. The film's predecessors, 28 Days Later (2002) and 28 Weeks Later (2007), received 18 certificates, though the first was also lowered to 15 in 2025 for its theatrical re-release.

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The gigantic, long-haired, super-strong alpha pursuing Erik, Spike and Isla is named 'Samson' by Dr. Kelson. When Spike and his father return from their first trip and the people on the island celebrate their return at the town hall, they all sing Tom Jones's 'Delilah'. Samson and Delilah are figures from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. Samson, known for his incredible strength and long hair, is betrayed by Delilah, the Philistine woman he loves, and Delilah reveals the secret of his strength — his uncut hair — to the Philistines.

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This is Danny Boyle's first sequel since T2 Trainspotting (2017).

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The film's makeup supervisor, Flora Moody, was tasked with making Jodie Comer look sweaty and harsh. She admitted that this was very difficult to do given Comer's natural beauty.

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When Spike and Jamie walk through the market square on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne at the start of the film, several real locations are visible: the marketplace, the Crown & Anchor pub, the Manor House hotel and the 793 Spirits gin distillery (redressed as a post office). The lime kilns near Lindisfarne Castle are also used as a location later. (The castle itself appears in the shoot, but is sometimes repositioned on the island when seen from above.)

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