'28 Years Later': Fans Have Wild Theories About Where Franchise Is Headed Next

Before Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, even hit theaters, a third film in the franchise was given the greenlight. That’s good news for fans and for producing duo Danny Boyle (who directed 28 Days Later and 28 Years Later) and Alex Garland (who has written three of the series’ four films). After all, they’d planned on a third 28 Years Later film all along. What might they have up their sleeves? Fans have more than a few theories; we’ve compiled some of the most compelling ones below. 

Beware: Spoilers below!

What Happened in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple?

Here’s the Cliffs Notes version: At the end of 28 Years Later, Spike (Alfie Allen) encountered Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) and his seven fingers. The Bone Temple picks up with Spike being inducted into the Teletubby-obsessed group and setting off across the countryside, delivering “charity” to people they come across based on Jimmy’s conversations with Old Nick, a.k.a. Satan, whom Jimmy believes is his father.

At the same time, the alpha zombie Samson (Chi Lewis-Perry) continues to visit Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) to be sedated. Kelson theorizes that the drugs bring Samson peace; soon, the alpha speaks and begins to recover memories. Kelson eventually gives Samson antipsychotic medications, which seem to bring his aggression under control. Samson is subsequently attacked by others infected with the rage virus, but survives.

Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), one of Jimmy’s fingers, sees the iodine-coated Kelson at his ossuary and assumes he’s Old Nick. Jimmy visits Kelson and strikes a deal: If he pretends to be Old Nick for his followers, Jimmy will leave him alone. Kelson agrees, but when he recognizes Spike, things go sideways. Kelson is mortally wounded; most of the fingers are killed by Jimmy Ink; and Jimmy himself is crucified. Spike and Jimmy Ink—whose real name is Kelly—leave; Samson comes back to the ossuary and thanks Kelson before Kelson dies. 

The film ends with Jim (Cillian Murphy) and his daughter spotting Spike and Kelly as they’re chased by the infected. They go to help them, and the screen cuts to black. 

Now, on to the theories.

The government will try to control the infected

After a trailer for The Bone Temple showing a young Samson on the train dropped in December, Redditors theorized Kelson’s experiments on the alpha would make him controllable—leading one commenter to speculate that the government would weaponize these controllable infected and causing a new worldwide outbreak of the virus.

Now that we’ve seen The Bone Temple, it’s clear that Samson isn’t as full of mindless rage as he once was thanks to Kelson’s treatment (though he’s still plenty strong). Kelson was clearly making notes on his theories involving anti-psychotics, but he’s dead, and those notebooks are hidden in a bunker underground—so it seems unlikely his revelations will make it into the hands of anyone who could use them for nefarious purposes. Unless … 

Kelson left his notes for Samson to find

One area of debate among those who have seen The Bone Temple is whether or not Samson will remain relatively rage-free without a steady supply of Kelson’s anti-psychotics. “His blood still has the virus. Kelson just treated what he called the psychosis component of infection. If we think of how certain psychiatric disorders are treated, [it ’s] with ongoing medication,” one Redditor wrote. “I suspect that Samson may go back to his feral state once the drugs leave his system.” 

Others, however, argue that the alpha is permanently cured. As evidence, one pointed out that “his eyes looked clearer than before. That and he was bitten multiple times and had infected blood coughed directly into his face, and it didn't do anything to him.” Another had a different take: “What got cured was simply the part that causes psychosis. So I interpret it as him being very much a rage infected still, but his mind is more lucid.” One went further and posited that Samson is still infected, but can now control and access his rage when he needs it—like when he’s being attacked by other infected on the train.

But one commenter floated another theory: “After all of Kelson’s talk about fearing death during the confrontation with Jimmy and his meticulous note-taking and planning, we reckon he’ll leave a labelled box or something for Samson. It probably won’t buy him much time, but that could be a plot point in the following film.” If Samson finds the notes, he could presumably keep his rage under control—and help cure the other infected, which some believe he will do.

Samson will go in search of his daughter in the third film

Many viewers of the 28 Years Later films believe the baby born on the train in the first movie was Samson’s—and now, given that he has access to his memories and can presumably remember that Spike and Isla took the baby, they think he’ll go in look for her in the third film. “I think the third installment will show a cured Samson fighting infected, possibly fighting an alpha infected. We may also see Samson finding his daughter and taking her back,” one said. Others, however, think that Samson’s story is finished, and we won’t see him in the third film.

The Holy Islanders will be the villains

After 28 Years Later came out, some Redditors posited that the insular community on Holy Island would become the villains in a future film. (Those creepy masks definitely didn’t help.) One posited that Jamie, Spike’s father, and the community would encounter Samson as he searches for his child. “If [the filmmakers] draw from [28 Weeks Later], I think the baby might be a non-symptomatic carrier, and the island may have done something sinister,” they wrote. “I left the cinema wondering what has to have been going on for Jamie and his village. Perhaps Garland has called back to the overarching message of the series, the real monsters are the humans, left alone to their own devices.”

We haven’t seen the last of Jimmy

The Bone Temple ends with Jimmy Crystal crucified upside down, crying for his father to save him as Samson carries Kelson’s body away. From Jimmy’s eyes, we see the ossuary and the night sky—and, finally, a flash of an infected. The assumption is that Jimmy was killed, but some think we haven’t seen the last of him: “He’ll come back as an infected,” one Redditor posited. “He was the first character we saw so there’s no way he’s gone. He’ll rise again like Christ did but as a higher intelligence infected.” Others have built off that theory, speculating that Jimmy will lead a horde of infected to Holy Island, and will face off against Samson, who is looking for his daughter.

28 Years Later and The Bone Temple were shot back-to-back, so unfortunately, we’ll have to wait awhile to see which of these theories hold water—and how Jim and his daughter fit in. “This trilogy is Spike’s, but in each movie, we got to have these long moments about the characters, and for the third one, it’s Jim,” DaCosta toldUSAToday. “I don't know exactly what’s going to happen in that movie, so I’ll leave that to everyone to find out later.”