28 Years Later producer gives disappointing update on Cillian Murphy’s involvement
While he will serve as executive producer on '28 Years Later', producer Andrew Macdonald has admitted Cillian Murphy will not be reprising his '28 Days Later' role of Jim in the upcoming blockbuster.
Cillian Murphy will not appear in ’28 Years Later’.
The 48-year-old actor starred in director Danny Boyle’s original 2002 horror flick ’28 Days Later’ as survivor Jim and is due to serve as executive producer on the first entry in the ’28 Years Later’ trilogy, though producer Andrew Macdonald has revealed Murphy will not be reprising his role for the upcoming flick.
Speaking with Empire magazine, Macdonald said: “[On] this, we wanted him to be involved and he wanted to be involved. He is not in the first film, but I’m hoping there will be some Jim somewhere along the line.
“He’s involved at the moment as an executive producer, and I would hope we can work with him in some way in the future in the trilogy.”
Speculation about Murphy's on-screen involvement in ’28 Years Later’ began after the trailer depicted a zombie that fans thought looked like the ‘Oppenheimer’ star, though it was later revealed that art dealer Angus Neill was the zombified character.
Even so, Boyle - who is reuniting with ’28 Days Later’ writer Alex Garland for the upcoming movie - didn’t think fans would mistake the walker for Murphy.
The director joked: “I showed my girlfriend the trailer and she said, ‘People will think that’s Cillian.’ I said, ‘Don’t be silly.’
“I ignored her. So I’ve eaten a bit of humble pie since.”
’28 Days Later’ - which also starred Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston and Brendan Gleeson - followed Murphy’s Jim as he awakes from a coma only to discover Britain has been plagued by a terrible pandemic known as the Rage Virus, in which those affected turn into murderous zombies.
While the ‘Peaky Blinders’ actor will not be seen in ’28 Years Later’, the movie will introduce a host of new survivors as played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Jack O’Connell and Ralph Fiennes.
In ’28 Years Later’, Jamie (Taylor-Johnson) and Isla (Comer) leave their tight-knit island community after their 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) embarks on a coming-of-age journey beyond the safety of the island, forcing the family to come face-to-face with the Rage Virus.
The 2025 movie will mark the beginning of the series’ first trilogy - with the second entry ’28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple’ due to hit cinemas next year.
Writer Garland explained it felt like the “natural form” of ’28 Years Later’ was a trilogy.
He said: “This is very narratively ambitious. Danny and I understood that.
“We tried to condense it, but its natural form felt like a trilogy.”
Boyle added the ’28 Years Later’ movies would be a “wholly different approach” to what had already been seen before in the series with ’28 Days Later’ and 2007 sequel ’28 Weeks Later’.
The filmmaker said: “It was about what that 28 years gives you.”
