28 Years sequel director explains why her film was unaffected by reactions to the ending

*WARNING: Contains spoilers for 28 Years later*

Nia DaCosta's new film Hedda has only just arrived on Prime Video, but there's not long to go until the director's next movie comes to UK cinemas – and it's safe to say it's a big one.

DaCosta has helmed the sequel to Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later – which is subtitled The Bone Temple and is intended as the middle part of a trilogy, which Boyle is hoping to cap off with a third film that has not yet been given the official green light.

Of course, anyone who's seen the previous film will know that it sets up this upcoming entry in spectacular – if somewhat divisive – style. Asked by RadioTimes.com what she'd made of that response, DaCosta explained why it had had little impact on her own film.

"I mean, because I shot [my] movie right after [Boyle] finished his, there was no like recalibrating because of the response to Danny's movie," she said during an exclusive interview. "It was just he made his movie. I made mine.

"And we all just felt really strongly that we were making great films – and so it was just wonderful for people to respond to Danny's film so, so positively because I really want them to come see mine. But Danny's brilliant, and I'm just a huge fan of it, so I kind of knew that everyone would love it."

As the title suggests, Boyle's film picked up 28 years on from the onset of the Rage Virus previously seen in 2002's 28 Days Later, and introduced us to a group of new characters living on the island of Lindisfarne (aka Holy Island) who have managed to carve out a community for themselves away from the hordes of infected.

One of those islanders was 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), the son of Jodie Comer's Isla and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Jamie, who by the end of the film was fending for himself on the mainland after a dramatic series of events that saw him encounter an eccentric doctor (Ralph Fiennes) and witness the death of his mother.

In the final moments, he comes across a cult headed up by Jack O'Connell's Sir Jimmy Crystal – who appeared to be modelled on Jimmy Savile – and sees them violently dispatch a whole host of infected in a scene which adopted a very different tone than the rest of the film.

Last month, the first trailer for the sequel was released and seemed to set up two central storylines: following Dr Kelson's (Fiennes) life more closely, while also focusing in on O'Connell's character and his gang of Jimmies.

The official synopsis reads: "In a continuation of the epic story, Dr Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) finds himself in a shocking new relationship – with consequences that could change the world as they know it – and Spike's (Alfie Williams) encounter with Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) becomes a nightmare he can't escape.

"In the world of The Bone Temple, the infected are no longer the greatest threat to survival – the inhumanity of the survivors can be stranger and more terrifying."

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is coming to UK cinemas on 6th January 2026.

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