Well, it hasn’t quite been 28 years later since 2002, but it’s getting quite close. That was the year director Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting“) and writer Alex Garland (“Civil War“) brought us the quite British zombie film, “28 Days Later.” With surprisingly fast zombies, Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, and profitable box-office haul, the film would cement itself as one of the better zombie themed pieces of media. And it would do this eight years before “The Walking Dead“ television series gave zombies a new life. Recently, a new project in the “28 Days Later” franchise has been rising from the grave, and now we know some of the actors who will be attached to it!
In case you were stuck in a coma in an overrun English hospital for the last few months, you may have missed news of a new trilogy of films. The first will be penned by Garland and directed by Boyle. The second will also be written by Garland, but possibly directed by “Candyman” helmer Nia DaCosta (“The Marvels“).
We’ve had some casting news already, like Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He was Quicksilver, he’s going to be Kraven, he may be James Bond, but for now he’s going to be contending with zombies. How does one person fit all of this into the schedule? Who knows, especially considering he also wrapped up filming “The Fall Guy” and “Nosferatu” both coming later in 2024.
Next we have Jodie Comer who you may remember from her Emmy winning performance in “Killing Eve.” And if you didn’t watch that, you can see digitally see her starring alongside digital David Harbour in the recent “Alone in the Dark” video game.
Finally, there’s Ralph Fiennes who likely needs no introduction. Everyone remembers him from his starring role in “Quiz Show” where he played real life game show contestant, Charles Van Doren. Oh, and he was that one villain guy in that “Harry Potter” series.
Everything is so early on in production that there are no further details to report at this time. It’s just interesting to see the difference in casting from one film to the other. “28 Days Later” was not filled with big names. It’s funny thinking about that now with Cillian Murphy having recently become an Academy Award winning actor, but “28 Days Later” was his first major film. This time around though, Boyle and Garland seem to be pulling out all the stops for their upcoming trilogy.
We’ll continue to report on this series as more details come in.
