28 Years Later Update Reveals New Plot Details About Aaron Taylor-Johnson & Jodie Comer’s Characters

The long-awaited 28 Years Later is set to expand the world of the iconic 28 Days Later franchise, bringing new faces and new horrors to the post-apocalyptic saga. Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland return to helm the third installment as the series picks up nearly three decades after the Rage Virus outbreak. This time, Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson star as members of a tight-knit survivor community on a heavily fortified island connected to the mainland by a single, treacherous causeway. The 28 Years Later story takes a shift when their lives are upended when a mission to the mainland reveals unimaginable dangers and secrets.

In a conversation with Empire, director Danny Boyle shed light on the survivors’ lives and the larger 28 Years Later story. Comer and Taylor-Johnson’s characters are revealed to be a married couple, raising their 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) in a community on Holy Island, aka Lindisfarne. From there, Spike is on his way to a rite-of-passage trip to see the true nature of the UK, but things go horribly awry. Here’s what he had to say:

It’s a closed and necessarily very tight community. There are very strict defense laws, obviously, to survive that long in what is effectively an ongoing hostile environment. They’ve created a successful community, as they see it.

What 28 Years Later’s New Details Mean

A Family’s Fight Reframes The Franchise

The new plot details bring a different approach to the 28 Later franchise, focusing on Jamie (Taylor-Johnson), Isla (Comer), and their son, Spike, as they navigate life in a cult-like island community. This isolated enclave with strict defense laws and tight regulations hints at a fragile peace that could unravel at any moment. As the story moves beyond mere survival into the emotional heart of a family trying to protect their child, Jamie and Isla must confront the brutal choices that come with parenthood in a post-apocalyptic world where the infected have become bigger and faster, and humans have become their own villain.

The journey of Jamie, Isla, Spike, and the UK’s remaining survivors brings monumental changes to the franchise as their story unfolds across a planned trilogy. The first chapter, 28 Years Later, directed by Danny Boyle, will be followed by 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta. The trilogy will conclude with a third film by Boyle, though its production hinges on the audience’s response to the upcoming 28 Years Later. “This is very narratively ambitious,” writer Garland explained. “[Danny and I] tried to condense it, but its natural form felt like a trilogy.”

Our Take On 28 Years Later’s Plot Update

It’s An Ambitious New Era For The Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

28 Years Later shifts the franchise’s focus, moving away from the alliances of unrelated survivors in the previous films to center on a single family—Jamie, Isla, and their son Spike. Their tightly bonded, isolated lives add a compelling layer to the story, where the emotional stakes will cut far deeper than mere survival.

The threat of the evolved infected, glimpsed in the 28 Years Later trailer towering over Jamie, raises the terror to new heights, pushing both the characters and the franchise into uncharted territory. With Boyle and Garland at the helm of an ambitious trilogy, supported by a stellar cast led by Comer and Taylor-Johnson, 28 Years Later promises to redefine the series with an intimate story and unrelenting horror.

Source: Empire