An update on 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple reveals whether the Alpha will return. The movie follows directly from 28 Years Later, which introduced smarter and stronger Infected known as Alphas. The upcoming 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple features multiple returning characters as they continue their attempts to survive the onslaught of the Infected in a quarantined Britain.

While several Infected Alphas appear in 28 Years Later, one of them takes on a more important role. The key Alpha, who Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) calls “Samson,” is implied to be the father of the non-infected child that is born in the movie. While Samson poses a threat to Kelson, the doctor chooses to sedate rather than kill him.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Years Later director Danny Boyle shared an update on the characters who are set to return in The Bone Temple, which was helmed by Candyman‘s Nia DaCosta. During the conversation, he confirmed that, in addition to Dr. Kelson and the cult leader Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), the Samson Alpha will return.

Read his full quote below:

The character you saw at the end of the first film, Jack O’Connell, he’s a major character in the second film, with Ralph Fiennes — and the big Samson guy.

What This Means For 28 Years Later

The New Infected Variants Will Probably Play A Major Role

Samson’s return makes sense, because, as of the 28 Years Later ending, the Alpha is still roaming the countryside near Kelson’s territory. That area is the location of Kelson’s tower of skulls, which is presumably the тιтular bone temple. If Kelson and the bone temple are both set to return, it stands to reason that Samson will return as well.

Samson will probably play a key role in the upcoming movie as it explores more ways that the Rage Virus has mutated. It also seemed that he was attempting to reclaim the non-infected baby, which means that he may pose a threat to the Lindisfarne island community, where Spike (Alfie Williams) left the child at the end of the movie.

Considering the fact that Samson’s movements seemed to have a particular focus and intentionality, it is possible that this evolution could include him working together with other Alphas to form an army of Infected, which could alter the status quo of the franchise considerably.

Our Take On The 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Update

Samson’s Return Hints At The Movie’s Themes

While Samson (who was portrayed by Chi Lewis-Parry) is one of several Alphas to appear in the 28 Years Later cast, the fact that he alone has been confirmed to be returning shows that he is even more important to the themes of the new installments than he seemed at first.

The 2025 installment was a movie with a great amount of thematic heft, but the fact that 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will feature both the return of Samson and a deeper exploration of Sir Jimmy Crystal and his cult implies that the sequel will be even more thematically rich.

Source: THR