’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ Drops Poster

Sony Pictures has unveiled a striking new poster for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the next entry in the revitalised 28 Days Later franchise and the second instalment in the new trilogy from director Nia DaCosta and returning writer Alex Garland. The film storms into cinemas on 14 January, continuing the series’ shift into larger scale, morally thornier territory while keeping the franchise’s trademark intensity intact.

Shot back-to-back with 28 Years Later, DaCosta’s film moves deeper into the wreckage of post-Rage Britain, pushing the series beyond its viral-outbreak origins into a fractured society where survivors are often as threatening as the infected. The poster’s stark imagery hints at this escalating brutality, with the “Bone Temple” concept signalling the rise of new, unnerving power structures that have emerged in the ruins.

Ralph Fiennes leads the cast as Dr Ian Kelson, whose newly formed alliance promises consequences that may ripple across what remains of civilisation. Alfie Williams returns as Spike, whose coerced initiation into Sir Jimmy Crystal’s troupe of acrobatic killers becomes one of the film’s key threads. Jack O’Connell’s Jimmy Crystal appears positioned as one of the franchise’s most unsettling antagonists yet, commanding the “Jimmys”, a cult influenced by the grotesque celebrity legacy of Jimmy Savile.

The infected remain present, but in DaCosta’s hands they form only part of the threat. Chi Lewis-Parry debuts as Samson, an Alpha among the infected with a physicality designed to raise the stakes. Aaron Taylor-Johnson returns briefly as Jamie, Spike’s father, while Erin Kellyman and Emma Laird expand the growing mythology surrounding Jimmy Crystal’s followers.

Perhaps the biggest draw for long-term fans, however, is the return of Cillian Murphy as Jim. Absent from the franchise since Boyle’s original 2002 film, Murphy’s reappearance at the end of The Bone Temple is designed to bridge directly into the planned third chapter, which Boyle is set to direct. His involvement also marks a rare return to a character that shaped the early years of his career, placing him firmly back at the centre of the series’ closing arc.

Production on The Bone Temple took place across the UK, with locations in Cumbria and North Yorkshire standing in for Britain’s overgrown, militarised wastelands. DaCosta’s approach reportedly embraced a distinct visual identity rather than echoing Boyle’s original style, pushing for a harsher, stranger world shaped by decades of collapse. Her request for an expanded presence of the infected, combined with Garland’s explorations of post-crisis power vacuums, suggests a film that blends action, horror and psychological tension.

Following the strong box office run of 28 Years Later, which earned more than $150 million worldwide, Sony has high expectations for the sequel. The first trailer, released in September, fuelled online discussion around the new direction and the emphasis on human inhumanity over viral terror. With the franchise returning to cultural prominence after years of dormancy, The Bone Temple arrives with significant momentum.

The new poster signals that this chapter will be darker, stranger and more expansive, laying the groundwork for the trilogy’s concluding film while pushing the series further into uncharted terrain. We’ll share more news as it comes.