28 Years Later sequel The Bone Temple gets January 2026 release

Columbia Pictures has announced the ’28 Years Later’ sequel ’28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple’ is slated to hit cinemas on 16 January 2026.

The horror movie will take place after the events of ’28 Years Later’ - which will come out in June 2025 - and will be the second entry into the new trilogy.

The official synopsis for ‘28 Years Later’ reads: “It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected.

“One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.”

While no plot details about ‘The Bone Temple’ have been revealed, it was confirmed Nia DaCosta would be directing from a script written by Alex Garland, who will be returning to the franchise to also produce alongside series creator Danny Boyle.

Meanwhile, Cillian Murphy - who starred in the original ’28 Days Later’ - will serve as executive producer on ‘The Bone Temple’, and will also have a “surprise” role in ’28 Years Later’, though he will not be a member of the main cast.

The 2025 film, which will star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Jack O’Connell and Ralph Fiennes, will follow on from Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 2007 film ’28 Weeks Later’, which itself was a sequel to Boyle’s ’28 Days Later’ from 2002.

In October, Fiennes, 61, confirmed principal photography on both ’28 Years Later’ and ‘The Bone Temple’ had been completed, with the two flicks having been shot back-to-back.

He told IndieWire: “It’s three films, of which two have been shot.”

The ‘Harry Potter’ actor then outlined the plot of ’28 Years Later’.

He said: “Britain is 28 years into this terrible plague of infected people who are violent, rabid humans with a few pockets of uninfected communities. And it centres on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother.

“He leads his mother through this beautiful northern English terrain. But of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected. "But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.”

While he has now returned to the franchise, Boyle said in 2022 he was “tempted” to get back behind the camera for another entry in the zombie series.

Speaking with NME at the time, he said: “I'd be very tempted [to direct]. It feels like a very good time actually.

“Well see… who knows?”