It has been more than two decades since director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland unleashed sprinting zombies on the world with 28 Days Later. That film’s gnarly opening with Cillian Murphy wandering around empty streets of London still caters to our apocalyptic, past-pandemic anxieties. Now, the duo reunites for 28 Years Later, replacing urban decay with guerrilla warfare in the forests.
What is 28 Years Later about?
Set nearly three decades after the Rage virus outbreak, 28 Years Later follows a band of survivors who have set base on a windswept tidal island. But when seasoned scavenger Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), his preteen son Spike (Alfie Williams), and, later, mum Isla (Jodie Comer) embark on a journey to the mainland, they get exposed to the true extent of the infected.
Where was 28 Years Later filmed?
If the first film found Boyle’s crew using Canon digital camcorders to capture action in concrete dystopias, 28 Years Later relies on an inventory of iPhone 15s and drones capturing the Gothic ruins and forested interiors of north eastern England. Expect sleepy parishes, Gothic monasteries, mist-shrouded forests, and the towering lines of the bone temples.
Where is the Bone Temple located?
An intriguing attraction of 28 Years Later is the Bone Temple site, a grim wasteland marked by pillars of human bones and skulls that carry ritual importance for the survivors. These stacks of bones were meticulously arranged at Redmire, a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire.
Production designer Carson McColl added that after scouting several locations, the team settled for Redmire because ‘there was something about that location that felt that it’s remained unchanged for a long, long time’.
Construction of this bony monument took no less than six months, with the production design team using over 250,000 replica bones and 5,500 skulls.
Is the island in 28 Years Later real?
The centre of the action is the remote island that harbours survivors like Jame and Spike. Much like the survivors in A Quiet Place and the Seraphite community in the new season of The Last of Us, these islanders are always on the lookout for any potential outsider attacks. They also have their own set of cultish post-apocalyptic rituals and customs, which makes the island’s real-life setting all the more crucial.
The island in 28 Years Later is Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, which lies off the coast of Northumberland. Lindisfarne’s recorded history dates back to the 6th century AD when it emerged as an important centre of celtic Christianity in Britain. Before the clash between zombies and survivors, the island bore witness to Viking invasions and the Norman conquest of England.
While CGI was used to recreate aerial views of Holy Island, most of the film’s island sequences were shot on location.
Kielder Forest, Northumberland
As the survivors move from the island to the mainland, 28 Years Later is heavy on some fast-paced forest action. The 250-square-mile Kielder Forest stood in to provide some dense foliage for such scenes. Dotted with conifer trees and one of the UK’s largest artificial reservoirs, the forest’s Northumberland location makes it conveniently near Holy Island.
Sycamore Gap
The historical Sycamore Gap tree also features in two scenes, either filmed before its illegal felling in 2023 or recreated with CGI help.
The 150-year-old tree was a legendary symbol of the north east, enamouring the country’s photographers and filmmakers for decades. Dramatically standing next to Hadrian’s Wall, the tree featured in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, leading to it being nicknamed the Robin Hood tree.
The tree stump, which experts estimate will take 150 years to return to its former glory, is immortalised in 28 Years Later. The Sycamore Gap’s presence remains tragically ironic in a dystopian film, especially one that runs with the tagline: ‘Time didn’t heal anything.’
Cheddar Gorge
This serenely historical Somerset gorge is the location used for the polarising final scenes. Cheddar Gorge’s inclusion in a film about forest survival and Bone Temples seems apt, given this is where archaeologists discovered Britain’s oldest human skeleton. ‘Cheddar Man’ is estimated to be 9,000 years old. Other atmospherically haunting attractions include narrow stalactite caves and many more bones over 12,000 years ago. Lord of the Rings fans also flock here for good reason, as the Gorge’s caves inspired the Glittering Caves of Helm’s Deep.
Where else was 28 Years Later filmed?
28 Years Later also filmed in Northumberland villages and parishes like Bellingham and Rothbury, the North Yorkshire parishes of Melsonby and Ripon, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Waskerley in County Durham.
Other locations include the 12th-century monastery Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, and the Aysgarth Falls, a set of waterfalls carved by the River Ure.
Who stars in 28 Years Later?
Apart from Aaron Taylor-Johnson and newcomer Alfie Williams starring as Jamie and his son Spike, 28 Years Later boasts an ensemble cast spearheaded by Ralph Fiennes and Jodie Comer. Fiennes plays outbreak survivor Dr Ian Kelson, while Comer is Isla, Jamie’s wife, who is suffering from an unknown illness.
Fresh off his acclaimed turn as an Irish vampire in Sinners, Jack O’Connell also stars as Sir Jim Crystal, the eccentric leader of the self-titled cult ‘Jimmies’. Erin Kellyman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Emma Laird (The Brutalist) play other members of Crystal’s cult. Swedish actor Edvin Ryding (Young Royals) features as a NATO soldier washed up on the British mainland.
When is 28 Years Later released?
It’s out in UK, Ireland and Australian cinemas now, and released in US theatres on June 20. Read our review here.