Sony Pictures28 Years Later is a movie that ends with an unexpected sequence that sets the scene for forthcoming sequel The Bone Temple, and also appears to reference a real-life monster.
28 Years Later is the third film in the zombie series about a virus turning people into Rage-infused monsters.
Like the original 28 Days Later, Alex Garland writes, and Danny Boyle directs, while the new movie introduces an entirely new set of characters.
You can read Dexerto’s 28 Years Later review, where we call it a “soulful sequel that’s filled with surprises and scares.” One of those surprises is an ending that grabs your attention, while setting the wheels in motion for forthcoming sequel The Bone Temple. SPOILERS ahead…
The end of 28 Years Later calls back to the beginning
Sony Pictures28 Years Later starts with a group of children watching Teletubbies in a living room, while Rage takes hold in the rest of the house. That results in a massacre, but one child gets away – Jimmy.
He runs to the local church, where Jimmy’s father is a priest, and seems to be pretty happy with the unfolding apocalypse, calling it a “glorious day of judgement.” Before the infected horde takes him down, Jimmy’s father gives him a cross to keep faith and have close by.
The story proper then starts, and focuses on 12-year-old Spike’s coming-of-age, as he kills his first infected, separates from his dad, and loses his mom – but he finds new life in the form of a baby.
Able to fend for himself now, Spike spends 28 days alone at the end of the movie, before delivering said baby to his father, then heading back out to walk until he can’t see the sea.
We then find him cooking a fish when an infected appears nearby. But, rather than freezing as he had done earlier in the movie, Spike is now ready for action, cooly and calmly taking the zombie down with an arrow.
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More infected appear however, so Spike runs, straight into a blockade made of rocks and stones. A voice from above shouts “Wonderful shot, pure poetry.” And when we see who it is – and the cross on a chain around his neck – it becomes clear that this is grown-up Jimmy.
Golf ninjas attack
He’s played by Sinners star Jack O’Connell, and what follows is nuts. Jimmy is surrounded by people wearing tracksuits and brandishing golf clubs, and asks Spike “Do you mind if we step in now?”
His crew then attacks, and beats the proverbial out of the infected in a fun action montage that’s filled with flips and deadly blows, and like nothing that’s come before in the movie.
The skirmish draws to a close with Jimmy shouting “Howzat!” He then extends his hand towards Spike, and introduces himself by saying “Hello, my name is Jimmy.”
Referencing real-life monster Jimmy Savile
Jimmy’s weird gang look and seem like a cult. But there could be something more sinister going on with their leader. As the tracksuit, the blond hair, and the chains around his neck are reminiscent of Jimmy Savile, a TV personality in the UK, who was also found to be a prolific pedophile after his death in 2011.
But before then he was made a knight of the realm, and movie Jimmy’s full name even alludes to this, as revealed in a GQ interview where O’Connell said: “Yes, Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, full moniker. He is a gas c**t. I don’t know quite how to describe him yet. But thrilling to portray, that’s for sure. He definitely exists in the darker pocket, certainly in contrast to anything I’ve ever played before.”
Which certainly gives grim connotations to the sequence. The film then ends there, suggesting that sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – which is already in the can – will pick up exactly where its predecessor left off. Meaning presumably we’ll find out exactly what’s going on with that potential Savile connection.
Spike will also doubtless reunite with his dad, who ends the movie screaming his son’s name in a desperate effort to find him. While we also know that Cillian Murphy – who starred in the original – will make some kind of cameo in Part 2, setting up a starring role in the proposed Part 3.
28 Years Later is out now, while The Bone Temple will hit screens in January 2026, when we’ll doubtless see more of the zombie Alphas. Head here to learn more about Cillian Murphy’s involvement in the sequels, or here to see where the original placed on our list of best zombie movies ever.