Continuing the story of its predecessor,28 Weeks Laterprovided a deeper exploration of the franchise’s post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world. Its advancements to the narrative -specifically, the spreading of the rage virus - are sure to drive the plot of the follow-up installment, even if none of the actors will bereprising their roles in28 Years Later.
WhileCillian Murphy not returning for28 Years Laterhas naturally disappointed fans, there is perhaps an even more interesting character return that we could have been headed for. Theories about Murphy’s character are brewing, but the most promising character in the two films that already exist is, of course, Andy, played by Mackintosh Muggleton in28 Weeks Later, whose ending will be retconnedin28 Years Later. Even if the film’s ending is headed for a retcon, it still has significance, especially in setting up28 Years Later.
How 28 Weeks Later’s Ending Confirms The Rage Virus Has Spread
28 Years Later Could Have Started Off With A High-Intensity Scene
Even though the director or writer of28 Days Laterwasn’t involved with the movie, except for Alex Garland as an executive producer,28 Weeks Laterseems surprisingly in tune with the original film. From close-up shots with a handheld camera, and an homage to the fire zombie scene, to that unmistakable score and starting where28 Days Laterended,28 Weeks Lateris a great follow-up, albeit tonally different. It trades in whatever cinematic distance is present in the first film for a more gritty, jarring, and cynical version of the familiar zombie apocalypse.
The overrarching theme of28 Weeks Lateris the impossibility of surviving such a situation. This is why the film begins with people infected by the Rage Virus killing or infecting a few survivors who had kept themselves secure from the outside until one fatal moment. That one scene continues from 28 days after the rage virus first broke out in Britain, as shown in the previous film. Interestingly,the ending bookends28 Weeks Later, as the final scene is set 28 days after the events that occur between the opening and closing scenes.
Right before the epilogue-like ending scene, we see Andy and his sister Tammy (Imogen Poots) being rescued by a helicopter pilot, Flynn (Harold Perrineau). We learn that he will be taking them to France, away from the newly infected lands in the UK. The characters had actually arrived from Spain at the beginning of the film. However, the final scene is far from triumphant or comforting because it doesn’t feature Andy, Tammy, or Flynn, but conveys further disparaging news.
It is unclear where the helicopter is, butthe final scene of28 Weeks Later, which occurs 28 days after Flynn rescues Andy and Tammy, depicts Flynn’s helicopter radio buzz with a call from someone. Unfortunately, Flynn wasn’t there, and neither was anybody else, suggesting the caller possibly never got the help she was calling to ask for. However,the panic in her voice and the short scene that follows it, with the score playing in the background, and frenzied, rapidly cutting handheld shots, convey clearly what is happening.
The scene transitions from Flynn’s helicopter into a shot of rage-virus-infected people running out of a Parisian metro station.
No one knows what has happened in the 28 days since Flynn flew the kids away from Britain, but the ending of28 Weeks Latertells the audience thatthe rage virus has now officially broken out in mainland Europeas well. The frantic call on Flynn’s helicopter radio is from a woman desperately asking for help, and as her voice turns into shrieks, the scene transitions from Flynn’s helicopter into a shot of rage-virus-infected people running out of a Parisian metro station near the Eiffel Tower.
Andy’s Immunity In 28 Weeks Later Explained
He May Have Special Blood
Andy, who already has blood of an infected person on him from a sharpshooter killing a rage-infected person about to attack him within inches of his face, is standing alone, calling for his sister, when Don turns to him. Before Tammy can warn him or Andy can understand what’s happening, Don is on him and has attacked him, effectively infecting him. Tammy’s attempt to lure away her father by sounding like her mother is another way the ending bookends28 Weeks Later, as she sounds exactly like their mother calling him in the opening scene.
While Tammy manages to distract Don and shoot him, Andy is surely gone by now, as the infection takes seconds to take hold. However, surprisingly, while his eyes do show blood clots, he is fine. This is perhaps because he shares the same genetic component as his mother, Alice (Catherine McCormack), which prevented her from turning despite being bitten by an infected person. Scarlet wanted to save the children in hopes that their blood might reveal a way to create a vaccine for the blood, but the final scene of28 Weeks Latersuggests something much worse has happened.
There is no proper explanation offered for Andy’s or his mother’s immunity, and there is no mention of the possibility of being immune in28 Days Later. Since the children never learn why their mother has a bite mark but isn’t infected, they wouldn’t know that they have special blood that’s immune to exhibiting symptoms of infection. So, they’ll also not realize that, just like their mother, they can become carriers of the infection. It is likely that Andy spread the disease in France, which turns his role of hope for the future on its head, completing the bookend, as his father, who was supposed to be the protector, had abandoned his mother to be attacked by a horde of infected people in the first scene.
Where Cillian Murphy’s Jim Is Supposed To Be In 28 Weeks Later
He Is Nowhere To Be Seen
The reason everyone was excited for Cillian Murphy to reprise his role from28 Days Lateris that Jim, who doesn’t have immune blood or military training, is miraculously one of the original survivors of the viral outbreak. In a remarkable twist, and perhaps the best moment in28 Days Later,it is revealed at the end that he has survived.Unfortunately, Murphy never returned to the role, and one can only presume he died during the outbreak in28 Weeks Later, since he won’t be returning.
One of the skeleton-like zombies in the first trailer for28 Days Laterlooks eerily similar to Jim, and started wild theories about how Cillian Murphy could return and how he appears like that, but the Internet soon realized that the zombie isn’t Jim and the theories were all debunked.
Jim isn’t in28 Weeks Latereither, so he likely succumbed during the six months between the ending of28 Days Laterand Andy and Tammy’s arrival in London, which the film starts with. Or, he might have survived that, and could have died during the second outbreak that28 Weeks Laterfollows, either eaten by the infected people or shot down by the army. It is also likely Jim survives, but without Murphy returning, it is unlikely we’ll ever see the character again andCillian Murphy’s Jim’s real endingwill always be a mystery.
What Happens To The UK After 28 Weeks Later
It Is Ground Zero For The Outbreak
Since28 Years Laterplans to retcon the ending of28 Weeks Later, it is difficult to say if the infection will actually spread to Europe or be contained within the UK. Without Andy or Tammy in the films, the possibility of developing a vaccine is possibly also not going to be explored in the new film. Moreover,the gap of 28 years could have changed everything, and all we can do is make theories about what the new film will show.
Inoculation is also not a possibility, leaving the UK in the same situation as28 Days Laterdid.
However,28 Weeks Lateris itself not ambiguous about its ending. It clearly shows that with a new outbreak and with the declaration of Code Red, there are possibly no more survivors in the Isle of Dogs, where the US Army tried to bring back civilians. Moreover, since everyone who Scarlet had told about the special properties of Alice’s blood presumably died by the end of28 Weeks Later, inoculation is also not a possibility, leaving the UK in the same situation as28 Days Laterdid.
How Andy’s Escape & The Rage Virus Spreading Set Up A 28 Weeks Later Sequel
It Is A Tease About The Franchise’s Future
The ending of28 Weeks Lateris specifically a setup for a movie to follow its events immediately. After the development of the plotline based on Alice’s surprising lack of symptoms despite being infected, the choice to show Andy being attacked by Don was made with the future in mind. Don’s attack on Andy is what makes hima carrier and also the only hope for a cure or a vaccine. If Andy hadn’t been attacked, we wouldn’t have learned that he is also carrying his mother’s genetic modification and could survive being bitten by an infected person.
This plot point has been well foreshadowed since he gets infected blood on him, and even though he doesn’t ingest it, it’s an omen for what’s to come later, especially considering Andy is the first of the siblings to see Don after he is infected, when Don seemingly attempts to attack him through a door. So, when Andy goes to France as a carrier and the film ends with a shot of infected people running in France, that’s a setup for a sequel, and makes28 Weeks Laterone of thehorror movies with a great cliffhanger ending.
Will 28 Years Later Actually Follow 28 Weeks Later’s Ending?
A retcon has been teased
The fact that Cillian Murphy’s Jim isn’t returning for28 Years Lateror that Tammy and Andy won’t be in28 Years Lateris all the evidence one needs to conclude that the film won’t be picking up from28 Weeks Later’s ending. It could feature an homage scene similar to28 Weeks Later,which follows people during the second outbreak before the credits, but canonically continuing isn’t possible. Being set 28 years into the future makes that particularly difficult to execute.
28 Years Latermay be releasing in 2025, but Danny Boyle and Alex Garland had spoken about an idea for a third movie in the franchise back in 2007, just a month after28 Weeks Lateroriginally came out in theaters. If not for the years spent in development hell,28 Years Latermay have been a completely different movie altogether. However, in its current form,it won’t be following28 Weeks Later’s ending, and the ending of that film is going to be retconned in28 Years Later.
28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later: This film is a sequel to 28 Days Later and depicts the aftermath of the rage virus outbreak in the British Isles. Six months after the initial catastrophe, international military forces attempt to restore order, but a new wave of infection threatens to reignite the chaos.
