’28 Years Later’ Trailer: What Happened To Cillian Murphy’s Jim

The long-awaited trailer for the highly anticipated sequel to 2007’s 28 Weeks Later, 28 Years Later, is finally here; creeping out the audience with rage-infected zombies, a vibrant colour palette and a strong visual sense. You can watch the trailer below. 

The 28 Days (Weeks, Later) franchise follows the impact of the rage virus, a pathogen that inflicts its victims with a virus so deadly it turns them into angry and violent zombie-like creatures. The films take heavy inspiration from great zombie films of the past, such as Night of the Living Dead, and went onto inspire other huge mainstays in the sub-genre such as The Walking Dead.

This new trailer sees the dawn of a new story, but also coming full circle, possibly linking back to the original film which debuted way back in 2002. The trailer starts in that time period, set within the first 28 days of the apocalypse, with shots reminiscent of footage filmed in that era. We see children watching Teletubbies before a woman leaves her child in the room indicating to her to prioritize her own safety before disappearing to go combat the assumed apocalypse. 

Eerie but upbeat music plays over the trailer, giving it an uncomfortable otherworldly feel as we see an island which was also present in the teaser. It seems to serve as a gated community to our leads, played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and Jodie Comer, protecting them from the dangers posed by the outside world. Our protagonists do venture outside of this zone with the trailer becoming more frantic, dangerous and rage filled. One particular shot sees nine infected on a green hill with two trees. Only for one of the zombies to not run towards our characters, looming scarily as a silhouette.

Other shots see our characters in even more peril, as well as a shocking monument built with the skulls of infected— or possibly even humans. But the real kicker that has us here at Feature First, as well as what seems to be the rest of the internet, is an infected that looks suspiciously like Cillian Murphy’s character Jim, who appeared in the first film.

The character is obviously dead, but it might only be a coincidence whether this zombie is actually Jim or not given that set photos purport a different look for the character. That being said, that might lend credence to flashbacks in this film, the next, or the finale of the trilogy which is said to involve Murphy a lot. A Twitter user also claims that the infected was not played by Murphy, but the validity of this claim is again, undecided. 

Two new posters were also released as part of the trailer release, which you can see for yourself, below: 

The posters seem to indicate an evolution in the virus, and therefore in the infected, perhaps explaining why the looming zombie featured in the trailer could control its rage. One of the posters has an infected holding the head and spine of an unnamed character, something previously thought impossible of the previous regime of zombies. The 28YL team may be going for increased intelligence in the feared zombies that have become so iconic. 

28 Years Later stars Aaron Taylor Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, and Cillian Murphy. The film is directed by Danny Boyle, and written by Alex Garland. 28 Years Later hits theatres worldwide beginning June 20, 2025, with distribution courtesy of Sony Pictures.

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