28 Years Later Trailer Might Be Teasing Zombie Cillian Murphy

The first trailer for 28 Years Later is here and full of dread. Its grim mix of violence and futile resistance rekindles that sense of hopelessness from the first movie, though perhaps without the same moments of humanity and levity. It also might give us our first look at the fate of Cillian Murphy’s character.

With Danny Boyle returning to direct and Alex Garland once again in charge of the script, 28 Years Later shows survivors contending with a resurgence in the rage virus that threatens to unravel the remnants of a normal society living on an island mostly cut off from the rest of the world. Out June 20, 2025, the movie stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and a ripped Ralph Fiennes, among others.

The most effective part of the trailer is a recitation of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Boots,” about marching during the Second Boer War in South Africa. “Try—try—try—try—to think o’ something different—Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin’ lunatic!” the voice over goes. “(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again!) There’s no discharge in the war!”

The biggest mystery about the movie might not be why the rage virus is back, but what Murphy’s role will be. The central protagonist of the first movie, he’s set to appear in the third film but it’s not exactly clear how. In a split-second near 1:47 in the trailer there’s an emaciated zombie body that looks like Murphy, rising out of a field of wild flowers. Maybe he’s infected. Maybe he’s found a way to overcome the virus. A Sony exec previously teased his return “in a surprising way and in a way that grows, let me put it that way.”

Murphy was still relatively unknown back when 28 Days Later came out in 2002. He later appeared as Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies and the hit series Peaky Blinders. Murphy returns to the zombie franchise after winning an Oscar for his performance last year in Oppenheimer.

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