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Alex Garland has a ‘really cool idea’ for a ‘28 Days Later’ sequel
How many more days do we have to wait for a sequel?
It’s been 20 years since 28 Days Later came out in theaters. Danny Boyle's 2002 film, starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris and Christopher Eccleston, and based on a screenplay by Alex Garland, revitalized the zombie genre and kickstarted Garland’s movie career.
Since then, Garland has moved from writing scripts to the director’s chair. His third directorial effort (Ex Machina and Annilhation were his first two movies) is the upcoming horror film, Men, which is set to debut on May 20.
However, 28 Days Later will always be a big part of Garland's career, and during his interview circuit promoting Men, Garland spoke with Yahoo's Kevin Polowy about whether he’ll ever work on a sequel to the seminal zombie film.
“It’s possible,” Garland said. “Everybody needs to want to do it, and every now and then — partly because I think about paying off the mortgage or something like that — I think, ‘Hm, that might be a good idea.’ But me personally I never quite have enough motivation to follow it through.”
Part of Garland’s hesitation to do a sequel appears to stem from how he views the original film’s place in the history of cinema. “A long time has passed,” he explained, “and 28 Days Later when it arrived was kind of fresh, and I don’t think it’s fresh anymore. And I think, speaking of conversations, 28 Days Later joined the zombie conversation, that genre. And part of me thinks it did its thing, which is great. It was nice to be part of that, really.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that Garland doesn’t have an idea in mind if he ever decides to head back to the 28 Days Later world. "I have got a really cool idea for [a sequel] but it’s a much bigger movie,” he shared. “One of the things about 28 Days Later is that it was small and punk, and this idea is less small and punk. But me and [director Danny Boyle] speak about it, every couple of years it comes up.”
So you’re saying there’s a chance, Alex? We hope so! In the meantime, we can get our zombie fix by checking out Day of the Dead on SYFY and Peacock.
