The trailer for 28 Years Later, the long awaited addition to the iconic horror franchise, is out now, and it offers Young Royals fans a first look at star Edvin Ryding as a hardened apocalyptic survivor.
Coming out nearly two decades after the last installment, 28 Years Later follows a new civilization surviving the Rage Virus, a mutation that turns the population into mindless, rabid monsters.
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The first film, 2002’s 28 Days Later, combined the talents of director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and screenwriter Alex Garland (Ex Machina), and it became a defining film for the new era of zombie horror. While old zombies were known for their straggling creep, these zombies were lightning fast, viciously angry and plain terrifying.
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The sequel, 2007’s 28 Weeks Later, featured a new cast and crew and took the franchise in a different direction. But the upcoming third installment seems to have close ties to the plot of the first.
For many fans, the biggest shocker of the trailer is witnessing what appears to be Cilian Murphy reprising his role as Jim, hero of the first film. Unfortunately, he’s looking just a tad deathly emaciated. Due to the extremely cryptic nature of the trailer, we’ll have to wait until the film comes out to learn what happened to our boy Jim.
For queer fans—specifically Young Royals viewers—the trailer gives a fleeting glimpse of Edvin Ryding kitted out in militaristic gear. Ryding plays E Sundqvist, and although little is known about his character, he seems to be some kind of soldier (be warned, those weren’t exactly the good guys in the first film).
In the trailer, we see him moving warily through the woods with other uniformed men, weapons at the ready. Later, he is in a pitch black area, staring around with a headlamp, when his group is jump-scared by infected. Lastly and most cryptically, a brief shot shows him getting dragged up through an open ceiling by an unknown attacker.
Not only will 28 Years Later be the third film in the main franchise, but it will act as the starting point of its own trilogy. The first sequel, 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple, has reportedly wrapped filming.
28 Years Later will premiere in theaters on June 20, 2025.
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