Watching the trailer for 28 Years Later this morning at 8 AM bleary-eyed and barely awake, I went through what I imagine was a very similar experience to many other viewers – Wait a minute, is that f**king zombie Cillian Murphy?

The trailer has elicited a huge reaction for many reasons, whether it be revealing the return of zombie Jim (Murphy’s character from 28 Days Later), the creepy background audio used for Navy Seal torture, or just Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

No, that wasn’t a typo – Taylor-Johnson was the beginning and end of explaining why people should see this film. You read correctly.

Hear me out (Sony)

Eagle-eyed viewers, however, have been combing through the trailer looking for hints as to why Murphy’s zombie corpse is still around 28 years on if he did die, considering he’s alive at the end of 28 Days.

Meanwhile, others noticed two different posts which suggested that Jim has a wider part to play in the narrative than was hinted in the trailer.

Two indications towards this are his name being written at two separate points in the trailer.

You can see for yourself here:

One sees a wall with graffiti saying: “Behold Jimmy he is coming with the clouds.”

Ominous.

The other saw “J I M M Y” carved into the back of someone hung upside down.

Even more ominous.

One post on Reddit said: “I think the trailer may be leading us astray about Jim. The church looks like the one Jim stumbled upon in the original.

“It also looks like a flash back in which someone could be talking about.

Cillian Murphy is coming back as Jim (20th Century Studios)

“Yes the quick image at the beginning looks like him, but it is also out of context. Possibly a vision? I personally don’t think they’d bring Jim back and immediately reveal him in the first trailer.

“I suspect he could possibly be the person upside down with the bag over their head.”

Another thread also agreed with this idea that he has a bigger part to play, commenting on a picture of zombie Jim saying: “It really looks that way, but I doubt that after all the secrecy, they would just reveal his fate like that.

“The set photos didn’t seem like flashbacks.”

Someone else said: “They did mention he was coming back in a surprising way. Hopefully this is just a red herring, because if this is his characters fate then they revealed it way too soon”.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is also starring in the film (Sony)

This would not be a surprise based on the ending to 28 Days Later.

In the theatrical ending, Murphy’s Jim survives. In the film’s original scripted ending, that made it as far as to be shot, however, he succumbs to his wounds and dies.

In the film’s DVD commentary, however, director Danny Boyle revealed that he’d changed the ending because he wanted the story to continue.

All of that just to have Murphy’s character be a cameo zombie would be bizarre but we’ll find out soon enough.

28 Years Later will release in theatres June 20, 2025.

Since the trailer for 28 Years Later dropped, the internet has been in uproar regarding the alleged fate of Cillian Murphy’s character in the sequel.

Film fans began speculating that the Irish actor, 48, doesn’t fare too well in the upcoming film after watching the teaser which was released earlier this week.

Take a look at it for yourself here:

Forget the fact that stars including Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have joined the cast though, as it’s Murphy’s supposed physical appearance in the trailer which got people talking.

The state of him seemed to suggest that things didn’t exactly go too well for his character, bicycle courier Jim, after he seemed to survive the societal collapse in 2002’s 28 Days Later – though things could have been different if we’d gotten the original ending instead.

Viewers were left stunned that Murphy looked ‘completely emaciated’ in the shot, especially as it appeared as though he had also become infected.

Many believed this undead bloke in 28 Years Later was Cillian Murphy(Sony)

However, it turns out that the Peaky Blinders actor isn’t the person who creepily emerges behind Comer in the 28 Years Later trailer after all.

Murphy has been getting all of the credit for pulling off a convincing zombie – but it is actually owed to actor Angus Neill.

Director Danny Boyle decided to rope the art dealer into the highly-anticipated sequel after being wowed by his unique appearance, according to The Guardian.

It isn’t the first time Neill has been thrust in front of a camera though, as he also works as a model.

His professional profile indicates that he has a 28-inch waist.

Neill said: “Danny told me he’d always had me in mind for the role. So we met up, hit it off, and I agreed to take part.

“On set he has an extraordinary ability to hypnotise you, and working with him on the film was a very, very intense experience.”

Kudos to Neill anyway, as being dubbed a dead ringer for a hunk like Cillian Murphy in your first film is quite the mean feat – as zombie or not, that’s got to be a compliment.

LADbible have contacted Sony for comment.

Unlike the gap from Days to Weeks to Years, the next chapter in the 28 zombie franchise has already been announced.

Ralph Fiennes, who also stars in the film, claimed another two sequels are in the pipeline.

This was confirmed by Variety, who said there will be a trilogy, with 28 Years Later shot back to back with 28 Years Later II: The Bone Temple.

When this morning’s 28 Years Later trailer was released, today was the first time many would have realised a sequel is even in the works.

If that’s the case, you may be wondering whether you missed an instalment in the series.

We had the 2002 28 Days Later starring Cillian Murphy, we had 28 Weeks Later starring Jeremy Renner in 2007, and now we are going straight to 28 Years later starring Aaron Taylor Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, and Jack O’Connell.

The creators of the original film, writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle, have spoken over the years about a possible sequel.

At one point, Garland actually sat on the side of believing they should do months later as the next instalment in the franchise.

He said in a 2015 interview with IGN: “Danny [Boyle] and [producer] Andrew [Macdonald] and I have been having quite serious conversations about it so it is a possibility.

“It’s complicated. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why it’s complicated, which are boring so I won’t go into, but there’s a possibility. It’s more likely to be 28 Months than 28 Years. 28 Years gives you one more place to go. 28 Decades is probably taking the p*ss.”

Cillian Murphy is set to return, this time as a zombie seemingly (Sony)

Garland and Boyle did not return for 28 Weeks Later and, while it was better than you’d generally expect for a sequel to a classic film where no one from the original is returning, it was not as well reviewed.

28 Days Later sits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 7.5 on IMDb, while 28 Weeks Later sits on 72%, with a 6.9 on IMDb.

Years later, in 2023, Inverse spoke to Garland, Boyle, and several others to create an Oral History of 28 Days Later.

Garland said regarding a potential sequel at the time: “I resisted it for a long time because there were things about 28 Weeks that bugged me. I just thought, “F*ck that. I’d rather try to write a different story in a different world.

“But a few years ago an idea materialized in my head for what would be really 28 Years Later. Danny always liked the idea.”

Alex Garland and Danny Boyle (Michael Putland via Getty Images)

At the time, Boyle said: “We’re talking about it quite seriously, quite diligently. If he doesn’t want to direct it himself I’ll be well up for it, if we can execute a similarly good idea.”

The change appears to be due to the fact that the idea Garland hand hinges specifically around there having been years for the virus to evolve and change, and to distance from 28 Weeks Later.

They also appear to have solved the issue of a follow up only having one place to go and it taking the p*ss, with two sequels set to come following 2025’s 28 Years Later.

With the first of the three new films directed by a returning Danny Boyle, they were filmed back to back with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, with Candyman director Nia DaCosta set to helm the film.