28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will hit the big screen on January 16, 2026, and some first-look images have revealed more of what is to come for the next installment. Directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Alex Garland, the upcoming sequel to 2025’s hit movie, 28 Years Later, will serve as the fourth installment in the series overall.

SH๏τ back-to-back with its predecessor, Bone Temple will follow on from the events of the previous film, which grossed $150.4 million worldwide and starred names such as Alfie Williams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O’Connell, and Ralph Fiennes. However, it was also previously announced that Bone Temple will see the return of 28 Days Later‘s Cillian Murphy.

Now, via Rolling Stone, Columbia Pictures has revealed several first-look images from Bone Temple, providing an official glimpse at the film. The images feature Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson walking towards the camera, Jack O’Connell’s Sir Jimmy Crystal standing among his followers, and Chi Lewis-Parry as Alpha rage virus-carrier Samson in a river. Check out the images below:

Speaking with Rolling Stone, director DaCosta revealed how she wanted to separate Bone Temple from its predecessors, stating: “My big pitch when I was talking to the producers, including Danny and Alex, before I came on was, ‘I’m going to make this my own. I’m not going to try to make a Danny Boyle movie.’ Because that’s impossible to make.”

Describing how Bone Temple continues the story from 2025’s hit horror movie, DaCosta reveals Spike is “the-through-line” between the films, forced to join Jimmy’s cult, which is ready to clash with Dr. Kelson. Furthermore, Dr. Kelson’s backstory and dynamic with Samson will be further explored as it’s a “big part of the movie,” according to DaCosta.

O’Connell also offers his input on Bone Temple, calling the upcoming film “the weird, deranged cousin to 28 Years Later.” He also teases how he doesn’t “think the infected are purely antagonists in our film. It definitely will make you consider that,” before adding that his character goes on “a journey of twisted gaiety.”

Additionally, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple‘s trailer will drop tomorrow, on September 3, 2025. Speaking of its contents, O’Connell teases that “The trailer does a really good job of putting across a feel and a mood without really alluding too heavily to the storyline,” before then adding that the film as a whole “goes places, man.”

What This Means For 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple looks to expand the franchise in a major way, not just in scale, but in tone and philosophy. With Nia DaCosta taking over directing duties from Danny Boyle, and Alex Garland still steering the story, the series is evolving into something more ambitious and thematically rich, digging into the structures formed in the outbreak’s aftermath.

The focus on characters like Dr. Kelson and Sir Jimmy Crystal introduces two very different visions of survival: one clinical and obsessed with control, the other chaotic and cultish. Meanwhile, Spike acts as the emotional and narrative bridge between films, grounding the story as it gets stranger, darker, and more unpredictable. However, it’s interesting that there’s no mention of Cillian Murphy.

Our Take On 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’s New Details

Between cults of personality, virus-carriers as almost mythic figures, and DaCosta promising something uniquely her own, Bone Temple might be the most stylistically daring entry in the series yet. The fact that DaCosta is leaning into what makes the world “bonkers” rather than trying to replicate Boyle’s energy is exactly what a long-running franchise like this needs.

With O’Connell channeling “twisted gaiety” and Fiennes’ morally gray Dr. Kelson, it’s clear the infected are no longer the scariest thing on screen; humans are. If the trailer lives up to DaCosta and O’Connell’s teases, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be more than just a horror sequel; it will be a descent into the darkest corners of human nature.