The trailer for 28 Years Later is here and many horror fans are both curious and confused. The curiosity comes from the trailer, which gives away little to nothing about its narrative. We don’t even hear the main characters speak to each other but it is still so, so good. The confusion part comes from one infected person who pops up briefly in a field. Prior to this trailer, there were reports that Cillian Murphy would return to the franchise as Jim in 28 Years Later. But we don’t see him in the clip at all… or do we? Is Cillian Murphy actually that zombie sitting in a field of flowers in the 28 Years Later trailer? It is not impossible. It has been 28 years since we saw him, Selena, and Hannah, after all. It is very, very easy for a person to die and seeing his undead corpse could be final confirmation that he succumbed to…something.
Cillian Murphy is not listed on the official poster for 28 Years Later as a cast member despite previous reports saying he would return as Jim. In the film’s trailer, there is a zombie that briefly rises up out of a field full of yellow flowers and it looks an awful lot like Cillian Murphy. However, British art dealer Angus Neill has now stepped forward to claim that he is the Cillian Murphy-looking zombie in 28 Years Later‘s trailer.
Neill noted to The Guardian newspaper (which we saw via Deadline) that it is he (and not Cillian Murphy) who features in 28 Years Later as the zombie/“Emaciated Infected.” Neill shared, “Danny Boyle told me he’d always had me in mind for the role… So we met up, hit it off, and I agreed to take part. On set he has an extraordinary ability to hypnotise you, and working with him on the film was a very, very intense experience.” Sony Pictures Entertainment has not yet commented.
There’s probably no reason for Neill to lie here, although the zombie in the 28 Years Later trailer does look an awful lot like Cillian Murphy. (Although Angus Neill also looks an awful lot like Cillian Murphy.) That doesn’t necessarily mean Murphy as a zombie Jim is off the table for the movie, though. It just means we haven’t seen him yet.
For one thing, there’s comic precedent that could bleed over into this film and explain why Jim is a zombie in 28 Years Later. In BOOM! Studios 28 Days Later comic series that follows Selena, Jim is captured and sentenced to execution for all the deaths at Major Henry West’s compound. Hannah goes to live a “normal” life with a new family, so Selena goes off on her own to continue surviving. For another thing, given the amount of excitement about the perceived zombie Jim in the 28 Years Later trailer, perhaps someone in production could have had this idea as well, and we just haven’t seen it yet.
Maybe Cillian Murphy’s role in 28 Years Later is simply to appear as a zombie Jim. I’ll find it to be hilarious personally if that’s the case but that’s just me.
Originally published on December 10, 2024.
