28 Years Later writer Alex Garland is ‘sort of done with directing'

Perth Now

16-06-2025

Alex Garland never thought about directing the 28 Years Later trilogy.
The 55-year-old scribe reunited with his 28 Days Later co-writer and director Danny Boyle, 68, for the upcoming horror flick and its two sequels, though has now revealed he never considered helming 28 Years Later himself as he decided he was 'sort of done with directing'.
Speaking with ComicBook.com about whether he wanted to direct 28 Years Later, Garland said: 'No. I was certainly, at that point, sort of done with directing and wanted to write for other people.
'[That] was one thing, but also, even if Danny hadn't wanted to do it … I think if Danny hadn't wanted to direct it, that probably would have just ended it at that point. And I certainly wouldn't have wanted to step in and, take that role.'
Garland - who made his directing debut with 2014's Ex Machina and has recently helmed films like Civil War and Warfare - added 28 Days Later was 'the product of lots of people working together', which he insisted had to be the case for the 28 Years Later trilogy.
He explained: 'It just wasn't the dynamic by which the original film was made.
'And the original film was the product of lots of people working together. Cast, crew and sort of broadly… But within it was some kind of interaction between me and Danny. And that had to be true for this one as well.'
As the Rage Virus resurfaces in a quarantined Britain, 28 Years Later - which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell - follows a new generation that ventures into the heart of the ruins - uncovering buried secrets, evolving threats, and a fight for survival that could change everything.
28 Years Later will see Garland and Boyle return to the series after sitting out 2007's 28 Weeks Later, which was directed and co-written by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
Garland previously explained he chose to leave the 28 Days Later franchise because he 'couldn't be in a cynical mindset' to make a sequel.
He told The Playlist: 'It was this. 28 Days Later was a very uncynical film. It had a punk sensibility. And in order to make a follow-up to it, you couldn't be in a cynical mindset.
'There's various reasons why that wouldn't have worked. And enough time had passed [with us]. There was a key idea that felt tonally correct to what we did 20-something years ago.''
28 Years Later will be followed by 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which will hit cinemas in 2026.
Boyle recently revealed the sequel would also see the return of Cillian Murphy's 28 Days Later protagonist Jim, while the third and final 28 Years Later movie would make the character a 'very dominant element'.
The filmmaker told Collider: 'There's a story arc across all three films. The principle of this is what we sold to Sony. And they immediately said, 'Don't say it's a trilogy. We said, 'No, we are going to say it's a trilogy.' Because it is! We're not going to lie to people!
'Not all the characters run through all three films, but some of them do. There's a character in this one, played by Ralph Fiennes, who is a massive part of the second film.
'Cillian Murphy is an element in the second film and a very dominant element in the third film.'