Cillian Murphy’s ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ Return Was “So Surreal” for Director Nia DaCosta
28 Years Later star Cillian Murphy will officially return in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Director Nia DaCosta (Candyman 2021, The Marvels) tells Empire it was “so fucking surreal” to see the recent Academy Award winner back in the post-apocalyptic world as erstwhile bicycle courier Jim. “I used to watch this man in a movie that was […]
28 Years Later star Cillian Murphy will officially return in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
Director Nia DaCosta (Candyman 2021, The Marvels) tells Empire it was “so fucking surreal” to see the recent Academy Award winner back in the post-apocalyptic world as erstwhile bicycle courier Jim.
“I used to watch this man in a movie that was so important to me. And now he’s here in front of me, and I’m directing him. And he’s asking me what I thought of a take. And he just won an Oscar? What the hell’s going on?” DaCosta laughs.
“I just thought [28 Days Later] was the best thing I’d ever seen,” DaCosta remembers. “I watched it over and over again. I was so obsessed with being in that world, with those characters — having a big old crush on Cillian Murphy, wanting to be Naomie Harris.”
While Jim will appear in The Bone Temple, Danny Boyle has stated that the character will have a more significant role in the newly greenlit third film of the 28 Years Later trilogy.
“I know some stuff,” DaCosta teases of the final chapter. “It’s gonna be really fucking good.”
Written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, 28 Years Later), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple infects theaters on January 16, 2026 via Sony.
In the film, Dr. Kelson finds himself in a shocking new relationship — with consequences that could change the world as they know it — and Spike’s encounter with Jimmy Crystal becomes a nightmare he can’t escape.
Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, and Chi Lewis-Parry star.
