Warning: This article contains spoilers for28 Years Later.There are multiple characters who are set to return in the upcoming28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. The movie, which was directed byCandyman’s Nia DaCosta, will be the fourth installment in the horror franchise, which kicked off with 2002’s28 Days Laterand is set on the British Isles, which have been ravaged by the Rage virus.
The movie follows 2025’s28 Years Laterinto theaters by less than seven months, debuting on June 13, 2025. Because of this, and the fact that theYearsmovies are part of a planned trilogy,the stories of both installments will be closely linked.
This means that theupcoming28 Years Later: The Bone Templewill feature much of the main cast of the 2025 installment. While some characters - including Isla (Jodie Comer) and Erik (Edvin Ryding) - did not survive and thus cannot return outside of flashbacks,quite a few others have already been confirmed to return.
6Chi Lewis-Parry As Samson
He Is An Alpha Infected On A Mission
One unexpected member of the28 Years Latercastwho is set to return is Chi Lewis-Parry (Gladiator II), who playedthe Alpha Infected known as Samson. Director Danny Boyle, who helmed both the original 2002 movie and28 Years Later, confirmed the character’s return during a recent interview withThe Hollywood Reporter.
In addition to being an Alpha, which means that he has superior strength and intelligence as well as the ability to lead other Infected,Samson is heavily implied to be the father of the uninfected babythat Isla helps birth during a tense train sequence in28 Years Later.
Samson being the baby’s father would explain why the Infected is so single-mindedly invested in pursuing Isla and her son Spike, who took the baby after its mother was killed by Erik. His seeming obsession with retrieving the babycould potentially make him a huge threat to the isolated island community on Lindisfarne, where the baby is being cared for.
5Aaron Taylor-Johnson As Jamie
He Is Spike’s Father & Isla’s Husband
Business Insiderhas confirmed that Spike’s father, Jamie, will return.The character was portrayed by two-time BAFTA nominee Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who kicked off 2025 with28 Years Laterafter a packed 2024 saw him star inThe Fall Guy,Nosferatu, andKraven the Hunter.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson was nominated for a Rising Star Award in 2011, followed by a Best Supporting Actor nod forNocturnal Animalsin 2017.
Over the course of the events of28 Years Later,a rift grew between Jamie and his sonas Spike began to doubt whether Jamie truly cared about healing his wife’s illness after seeing him cheating on Isla during a party celebrating their successful excursion onto the mainland.
While Jamie is seen taking care of the uninfected baby 28 days after the events of the movie, not having pursued Spike after he abandoned the safety of their village, it seemshighly likely that Jamie’s role in the story ofThe Bone Templewill be to embark on a mission to find his son.
4Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Ian Kelson
He Is An Eccentric Former Doctor
In the sameTHRinterview where Danny Boyle confirmed Samson’s return in28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, he also confirmed that Dr. Ian Kelson will return.Kelson is portrayed by Ralph Fiennes, who is known for playing Voldemort in theHarry Pottermovies, in addition to being a three-time Oscar nominee forSchindler’s List,The English Patient, andConclave.
It seems highly likely that Dr. Kelson will play a major role in the sequel, becausethe eccentric former country doctor was the creator of the bone templethat gives the movie its title. He has built a tower of skulls surrounded by columns of bones as a tribute to Britain’s dead, both Infected and uninfected alike.
The character has a unique relationship to28 Years Later’s Infected. In fact, he is one of the reasons why Samson is still alive to appear inThe Bone Temple. Rather than trying to kill the Infected, he merely sedates the ones who come close enough to potentially cause harm,living alongside them in relative peace.
3Alfie Williams As Spike
He Is The Main Character Of 28 Years Later
Business Insiderhas also confirmed that Spike will return inThe Bone Temple.Spike is one of the first feature film roles for young actor Alfie Williams, whose biggest prior credit was playing Ghost Theo in one episode of HBO and BBC One’sHis Dark Materials.
Spike’s coming-of-age was the main crux of28 Years Later, and he is the character who connects all the others, having brought his mother to see Dr. Kelson, hoping that he could cure her of her unknown illness. However, the kindly Kelson instead informs him that her condition is terminal and helps him learn to accept death.
It seems highly likely thatThe Bone Templewill continue following Spike, who has abandoned his home on the fortified island of Lindisfarne in favor of traveling the mainland by himself. However,the end of the movie implies that he is in grave dangerfrom a character who exists around the edges of the story, Sir Jimmy Crystal.
2Jack O’Connell As Sir Jimmy Crystal
He Is A Mysterious Cult Leader
In the sameTHRinterview where he confirmed the return of Samson and Dr. Kelson, Danny Boyle also revealed thatSir Jimmy Crystal will appear inThe Bone Temple. The character is portrayed by Jack O’Connell, who recently played the villainous vampire Remmick in Ryan Coogler’sSinners. Read Boyle’s full comment from that interview below:
The character you saw at the end of the first film, Jack O’Connell, he’s a major character in the second film, with Ralph Fiennes — and the big Samson guy.
Sir Jimmy Crystal is one of the most mysterious characters from2025’s28 Years Later. While he is shown as a child in the movie’s prologue,he doesn’t appear as an adult until the final sceneof the movie, when he and his cult of track-suited martial artist followers save Spike from a horde of Infected.
There is evidence of Jimmy’s murderous activities and worshipful following scattered throughout the movie, so the fact that Spike is now under their “protection” will likely place him in immediate peril if he fails to fall in line with the leader’s strange whims, which seem to bepartially inspired by his childhood viewing ofTeletubbies.
It also seems likely thatSir Jimmy’s gangof Jimmies will return alongside Jack O’Connell.They only appeared briefly alongside their leader at the end of the movie, which would seem to imply thatThe Bone Templewill explore their characters in more detail.
That group included Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), Jimmy Jones (Maura Bird), Jimmy Jimmy (Robert Rhodes), Jimmima (Emma Laird), Jimmy Snake (Ghazi Al Ruffai), Jimmy Fox (Sam Locke), and Jimmy Shite (Connor Newall), thoughnot all of their returns have been explicitly confirmedby an official source.
1Cillian Murphy As Jim
He Is The Franchise’s First Protagonist
The most important returning character that will be appearing inThe Bone Templeis Jim, who has not been seen since theending of28 Days Later.The character is portrayed by Cillian Murphy, who was an executive producer on28 Years Laterand who recently won an Oscar for playing the title role in 2023’sOppenheimer.
Danny Boyle toldBusiness InsiderthatMurphy will appear briefly “at the end” ofThe Bone Temple. Read his full comments below:
She gets a bit of Cillian at the end. All I can say is you have to wait for Cillian, but hopefully he will help us get the third film financed.
Although Jim, a bicycle courier who woke up from a coma in a London besieged by the Rage virus, was the protagonist of the 2002 movie, he did not appear in either of the two subsequent28 Days Latermovies, nor has he been directly mentioned.It is unknown what has happened to himsince that point.
In fact, ahead of28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, it has not even been confirmed if he was rescued and taken to continental Europe or if he has been living in Britain the whole time. However, if he was indeed rescued, his reappearance means that he will probably be plunged back into the terror of the Rage virus once again.
