Despite being hailed as one of the best zombie movies of all time, a third outing in the 28 Days Later franchise has yet to be brought to life. That may all be about to change, as director Danny Boyle and star Cillian Murphy have been seriously considering a return to the zombified post-apocalypse. Speaking with NME, Boyle declared that he would be “very tempted” to direct a 28 Days Later 3, and that now “feels like a very good time” to bring the franchise back for more.

Boyle is not the only one on board, with star Cillian Murphy stating that he too would love to come back — so long as they can think of a reason for why he has aged so much…

“I’d be very tempted [to direct it]. It feels like a very good time actually. It’s funny, I hadn’t thought about it until you just said it, and I remembered ‘Bang, this script!’ which is again set in England, very much about England. Anyway, we’ll see… who knows?”

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Directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later opens with Murphy’s character, Jim, waking up in hospital and slowly discovering that society has broken down due to the emergence of the Rage Virus, which sends its hosts into a state of extreme, uncontrollable rage, turning them into violent monsters. A sequel, titled 28 Weeks Later was released in 2007 and picks up following the events of the first movie, though without the inclusion of Murphy’s character.

“I think there’s a problem with that, in that I’m 20 years older…But every time I do bump into Danny or Alex I always mention it. Because I showed it to my kids recently, some Halloween about four or five years ago, and they loved it. It really stands up, which is amazing for a film that’s 20 years old. So yeah, I love the idea and it’s very appealing to me.”

A third outing would need to cover a lot of ground, but considering that the first movie was released 20 years ago, calling the threequel 28 Years Later would not be that much of a stretch.

28 Days Later Writer Has a ‘Really Cool’ Idea for a Threequel

     Fox Searchlight Pictures

Alex Garland, the writer behind 28 Days Later, who is also known for the likes of Ex Machina and Annihilation, has recently teased his work on a threequel. Describing his idea as “really cool” and “much bigger,” Garland is baffled that the pieces have yet to fall into place. “I have got a really cool idea for it, but it’s a much bigger movie, and one of the things about 28 Days Later is that it was small and punk and this idea is less small and punk,” Garland said earlier this year. “But me and Danny speak about it. Every couple of years it will come up, or going, ‘Do you want to do that?’ and then for some reason it never happens.”

Danny Boyle was last seen directing the miniseries Pistol, which follows Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and the band’s rise to prominence and notoriety. Cillian Murphy meanwhile will next be seen leading Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which is scheduled to be released on July 21, 2023 by Universal Pictures.