28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Nia DaCosta, 2026)

In 2025, twenty-three years after the iconic 28 Days Later became an international hit, and revitalized the zombie sub genre, 28 Years Later was released to critical and box office success. When it was announced director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland were coming back to the long stagnant franchise, it was also announced their intention was to make a new trilogy, and the second film of this new trilogy was being shot directly after 28 Years Later, directed by Nia DaCosta.

After the box office success and critical accolades for 28 Years Later, the question was could this sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, with a different director, match that heart tugging, expansive and insightful vision?

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple should put to rest any questions about Nia DaCosta's abilities. This is a stylistically different film, as grounded in the same world, and is as good as its predecessor. We're barely halfway through January and DaCosta, with a script from Garland, has delivered one of the first great films of 2026.

Back from the previous film are Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Kelson and Alfie Williams as Spike. After having been rescued from a group of infected at the end of the last film, we find Spike in the company of Jack O'Connell as Sir Jimmy Crystal, and the Jimmy Fingers, his acolytes. This time out, Spike and his journey aren't the engine of the film, so much as the carriage. Where 28 Years Later was about the trinity of Spike, his mother and father, The Bone Temple is interested in a different trinity. O'Connell's Jimmy Crystal, Fiennes' Dr. Kelson and Chi Lewis-Parry as the alpha infected, Samson, are the points of perspective we're most attached to.

There isn't a false note to any of the performances in this film.

O'Connell gets the the kind of role that makes careers in Jimmy Crystal, and he makes the most of every second he's on screen. After his performance in Sinners in 2025, and now this, O'Connell is likely to be one of the most sought after actors in his age range. As Crystal, he's dynamic, charismatic, repellent, and terrifying all at once.

It's very likely Ralph Fiennes has created one of the most iconic characters of its type in horror history. He is far from being the first to inhabit a role whose major function was to be a voice for compassion and kindness, but it is hard to come up with an example more deeply embodied and more piercing. Between 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple, Fiennes quiet, thoughtful, humility filled line deliveries, along with his physical presentation and embodiment might be the crowning achievement in an already a legendary career. Between Garland's writing and Fiennes performance, Kelson is unforgettable. Dr. Kelson is, without question, one of my personal favorite characters in film history.

Chi Lewis-Parry is given a thankless task here, as Sampson. How much he's doing, and how well he's doing it in portraying Sampson's slow emergence, is going to be lost on most audiences, but it is excellent work. There's a contrast between Fiennes and O'Connell's roles and Lewis-Parry's Sampson. Those roles require heavy lifting. O'Connell's Jimmy Crystal requires a bit of showmanship. Fiennes' Kelson requires the projection of a near superhuman patience and empathy. Lewis-Parry is tasked with a kind of subtly which could have broken the engagement with the film if it wasn't calculated correctly, and he makes it look effortless. Sampson is a character of extremes, and yet Lewis-Parry completely sells the extremes and the emergence of a moderation from those extremes. Many, many films have had the spell their casting on the audience broken because an actor couldn't stop themselves from doing too much, when very little is needed. Lewis-Parry sells those moments. As many films have had moments ruined by the opposite, an actor not being able to project the level of intensity needed. Lewis-Parry is equally believable and compelling in those moments. The nature of the character is unfortunately likely to result in notice not being taken of his performance. That he makes Sampson feel like a full character by the films end is an achievement.

Alfie Williams debut in 28 Years Later exposed audiences to a young talent that bordered on astounding. At just thirteen, Alfie took on the responsibility of carrying the lead role in a film that demanded a great deal, and he delivered one of the year's best performances. Owen Cooper has rightly been winning awards and getting accolades for his performance in the Netflix series Adolescence, somewhat overshadowing Alfie, but between the two of them one has to wonder what they're doing in the UK to produce such fine actors at such a young age. Though his role and responsibilities are reduced in The Bone Temple, Alfie Williams brings that same depth of authenticity to every scene he's in.

Back in 2021, when Nia DaCosta's Candyman reboot/lega-sequel was released, I was far more positive on it than the majority of critics, and a lot of the audience. I still believe that film is a marvel of discipline and efficiency. Clocking in at a slim ninety-one minutes, it masterfully conveys an amount of story, exposition and character some television series don't manage in five or six episodes. I'm still convinced a significant part of the negative response (other than the usual ambient racism, and the fact that there was a virulent focus on "woke" cultural works at the time), was the degree the film was not interested in holding the audience's hands or slowing down to point out when it was conveying something important to plot, character or story. It's a type of film and filmmaking that suffers most with an audience that can't put down their phones, because every moment is telling you something you need to know later. This also means it's particularly rewarding for those audiences in a rewatch.

That sense of disciplined storytelling is in The Bone Temple. She also brings an unobtrusive visual style to her directing. We never feel her hand as the director, and yet, there are moments of stylistic flourish which add to the emotional weight or help convey an idea or concept better than dialogue would. I use efficiency in the true sense of the word here too. None of her efficiency takes away from the production or costume design shining, as they should. There were questions about an American filmmaker taking the reigns for a film in this very English franchise, but DaCosta retains the authenticity that is a hallmark through that production and costume design. It feels like the same world as 28 Years Later, and that's important to a film that takes place almost immediately after its predecessor ended, and has to maintain it for a film that's going to follow it.

Beyond her technical capabilities, DaCosta manages to meld a number of shifting, contrasting tones. She uses things like space and light for specific characters, as well as blocking and frame positioning, so they convey different things to the audience visually. The Bone Temple is also using an expansive emotional palette which she understands how to express well, including how to dial them up or down, depending on their placement in the story, and what else in the story they are connected to.

I've avoided much here about plot, story and themes, as it's opening weekend and I want to avoid spoilers. What I will say instead is that 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is an emotionally evocative, compelling and rich experience as a film.

If 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple isn't one of the best horror films, and all around films of the year, it's going to be an incredible year for movie fans. If the third film delivers the same quality as these first two, it will be among the great trilogies in film history. Catch this in a theater if you can.

[NOTE: I will be writing a spoiler filled deep dive on themes and character for this film, as I did in the spoiler section for my piece on 28 Years Later, so keep your eye out for it if that interests you.]