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28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the next entry in the 28 Days Later franchise and a sequel to 2025’s 28 Years Later, is out now in theaters. While the film retains many of its horror elements, it does feature some surprising twists that take the franchise in new directions, and could have big implications going forward.
What surprise twist in 28 Years: The Bone Temple makes the movie so good?
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up almost immediately after the end of 2025’s 28 Years Later. Spike (Alfie Williams) is now a member of the Satanic group led by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), and joins other children as a member of his “fingers.” Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) continues his work of maintaining his titular Bone Temple, a makeshift memorial to the many people who were victims to the Rage Virus during its outbreak. It’s here that the film really shifts from what the franchise is best known for.
While much of the film does focus on Jimmy, his fingers, and the brutal things they do in the name of “Old Nick” (Satan) and Jimmy, the movie hangs heavily on Kelson and his relationship with Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), an Alpha leader of the infected who is introduced in 28 Years Later as a fully nude, incredibly strong zombie that leads all other infected. Throughout 28 Years Later, Kelson would sedate Samson with morphine, allowing him to freely interact with the Alpha zombie.
In The Bone Temple, this continues. Unlike 28 Years Later, which features Samson being subdued as he’s going to attack Kelson, Samson instead becomes addicted to the morphine and seeks out Kelson to get sedated. It’s here that things take a turn, as Samson begins to have flashbacks to his life before becoming infected with the Rage Virus. Kelson also begins to wonder if there is a potential cure or “fix” for the Rage Virus.
Toward the end of the movie, as Kelson’s supply of morphine dwindles, he plans to kill Samson in an act of mercy, but Samson shocks Kelson by speaking. It’s the first time we’ve seen an infected act like this in the entire franchise, and Kelson theorizes that the Rage Virus is a form of psychosis, which he thinks can be treated via antipsychotics. He soon begins trying to cook up a cure for the virus, which he gives to Samson. The cure seems to work, as Samson not only regains his consciousness but remembers his childhood in the process.
At the end of the movie, Kelson is stabbed by Jimmy, who himself is crucified upside down by Spike and Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), another member of the group. As the two die, Samson returns, this time fully human, and takes Kelson with him, thanking him in perfect English in the process.
Although touching throughout the movie, the moments between Kelson and Samson are much bigger for the overall picture of the 28 Years franchise. Throughout the entire franchise, no cure or fix seemed to work for the Rage Virus, with the only method of containment being to fully quarantine places where the infected were. A potential fix for the Rage Virus existing changes not only what can be done about it, but also how the survivors left across England can fend for themselves from those afflicted by it.
In a franchise that has come to be known for its incredibly dour and sad moments, and one that shows off just how brutal things can be, it’s an incredible twist. Not only does Dr. Kelson’s optimism shine through, but it may also have been enough to come up with a potential cure for the virus itself. Of course, with Kelson no longer around, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the cure for the Rage Virus ever comes up again, or if Samson is the only infected to ever be given the chance to be saved.
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Anthony Nash
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