Danny Boyle and Jodie Comer Talk COVID, Horror, and Making 28 Years Later
When 28 Days Later premiered in 2002, it brought a visceral sense of dread to the screen, as Cillian Murphy wandered through an eerily abandoned London, emptied by a fictional zombie virus.
But by March 2020, that dystopian vision took on chilling real-world parallels. The COVID-19 pandemic turned the bustling capital into a ghost town. Where Murphy’s character once passed walls covered in “missing” posters, today a memorial stands across from Parliament, honoring the 200,000 lives lost in the UK alone.
It’s against this backdrop that original director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland return with 28 Years Later, a new chapter in their viral saga.
Speaking to BBC News, Boyle reflects on how real-world upheaval has reshaped the genre. “What we used to think only happened in movies,” he says, “now feels more possible.” He adds that the film isn’t just about horror — it’s about how people learned to live through crisis, adapting to an unstable and unpredictable world.
Surviving the Aftermath
In 28 Years Later, the aftermath of the Rage Virus continues to haunt Britain. Once seen spreading across Europe at the end of 2007’s 28 Weeks Later, the infected have now been driven back and re-contained within the UK, isolating the island nation while the rest of the world slowly recovers.
Inside this fractured society, survivors are left to rebuild in isolation. Among them is 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), who lives with his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his ailing mother Isla (Jodie Comer) on Holy Island, a remote coastal sanctuary off England’s northeast. Spike has never known life beyond the virus; his world is a tightly controlled community of 150 people, cut off from the mainland by a single, tide-dependent causeway guarded around the clock.
The generational divide is stark: adults cling to memories of the world before the outbreak, while children like Spike grow up knowing only survival and confinement. On Spike’s 12th birthday, Jamie takes him to the mainland for a dangerous coming-of-age mission — a rite of passage steeped in risk and necessity.
But the threat has evolved. The infected are no longer the mindless, frenzied figures of the past. Some now crawl, others organize. A new breed — known as Alphas — leads the packs with frightening precision. The Rage Virus, far from fading, has mutated into something even more dangerous.
Danny Boyle draws a clear line between the film’s themes and the world’s post-COVID reality. “Over time, people begin to test the limits — to see how far they can go while still feeling safe,” he says. “That would be unthinkable 28 days after an outbreak. But 28 years later, it becomes the new normal.”
Hard Truths and Hidden Fears
Danny Boyle explains that choosing a young protagonist was a deliberate move — not just because “horror loves innocence,” but to explore the difficult decisions adults make when protecting children from harsh realities. It’s about what’s said, and what’s deliberately left unsaid, in the name of survival.
Jodie Comer deeply connects with this theme, both personally and through her character, Isla.
“I’ve experienced that with my own parents,” Comer shares, sitting beside Boyle. “They’ve tried to shield me from things to spare me worry. But there were times I wished they’d told me — maybe I’d have made different choices, or had more time with someone. Still, it always came from love.”
That protective instinct defines Isla, too. Afflicted by illness and teetering between moments of clarity and confusion, Isla fights to remain present for her son, Spike. Outwardly fragile, she still shows glimpses of strength and maternal instinct, revealing a deeper, more complex reality beneath her declining condition.
Into the Heart of the Apocalypse
Jodie Comer is no stranger to intense roles in crisis settings — from portraying a mother navigating a climate disaster in The End We Start From to a care home nurse in the harrowing COVID drama Help!. But 28 Years Later marks her first time fully immersed in a long-collapsed world — and her first time squaring off against the infected.
So, what’s it like being chased by zombies? “Thrilling,” Comer says with a grin.
True to the gritty realism of the franchise, the film avoided CGI and green screens. Instead, the "infected" were brought to life by actors who spent hours in makeup and moved with relentless physicality.
“These performers don’t hold back,” Comer recalls. “You’re out of breath, your adrenaline’s pumping, and you’re caught in these chaotic, high-stakes moments. It can feel totally overwhelming — and that’s what makes it so brilliant.”
