Ever since 28 Weeks Later debuted in 2007, horror fans have wondered if we’ll ever get a third movie in the 28 Days Later franchise. For years, the sequel rights were apparently tied up in red tape, but more recently, the original creators and cast have hinted that a sequel is finally in the works. And in a new interview with Inverse, 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland provide some extremely exciting updates.

“A few years ago an idea materialized in my head for what would be really 28 Years Later,” Garland says, suggesting the next movie will skip the obvious “28 Months Later” naming convention and jump into the future. “Danny always liked the idea.”

In the two decades since 28 Days Later, Garland has also become a respected director in his own right. So who will direct this sequel? Danny Boyle has some ideas.

“So we’re talking about it quite seriously, quite diligently,” Boyle says. “If he doesn’t want to direct it himself I’ll be well up for it if we can execute a similarly good idea.”

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alex Garland agrees and tells Inverse that 28 Weeks Later almost ruined the entire franchise for him.

“I resisted [making a sequel] for a long time because there were things about 28 Weeks that bugged me,” Garland says. “I just thought, ‘F*ck that. I’d rather try to write a different story in a different world.’”

Just over two decades after unleashing a zombie epidemic, modern horror classic 28 Days Later is getting a new sequel. Maybe even a trilogy of sequels.

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the director and writer of the 2002 movie, are reuniting for 28 Years Later, a new zombie thriller that is expected to hit studios, streamers and other potential buyers later this week, according to multiple sources. WME, which reps Boyle and Garland, will take out the package and handle the sale.

The package isn’t just a simple modern sequel installment; the movie already had a follow-up with 28 Weeks Later, released in 2007. The duo were only involved with as executive producers on that film. Now, the hope is to launch a new trilogy.

Boyle is attached to direct the first installment. Garland would write all three. The budget for each movie would be in the $75 million range.

The pair would also produce, as would original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.

The pair have talked publicly about potential sequels over the decades. 28 Months Later was one title bounced around, with 28 Years Later coming into focus as an idea in recent years.

28 Days starred Cillian Murphy, the now-celebrated star of Oppenheimer, as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.

The movie proved to be a surprise and profitable hit but more impactfully, it revitalized the zombie horror genre, kicking off the next decade-and-a-half zombies movies and shows that remolded the living dead not as slow-moving brain eaters but as ferocious forces of nature. The movie, and its sequel, also centered on the pandemic nature and societal’s fragile structure in these kinds of scenarios, topics that resonated in the post-9/11 world. World War Z, Zombieland, The Walking Dead, and Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead and his recent Army of the Dead, all followed 28 Days‘ path.

Separately, the movie also kept propelling the career of Boyle, who would go on to helm Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, and served as a launching pad for Murphy, who would, a few short years later, make his first movie with Christopher Nolan with Batman Begins.

The precedent and touchstone execs are hoping for is 2015’s Fury Road, which served as George Miller’s return to the violent and action-packed world of Mad Max after a two decade absence. It was a return that was a critical and box office hit.

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the director and writer of the 2002 movie, are reuniting for 28 Years Later, a new zombie thriller that is expected to hit studios, streamers and other potential buyers later this week, according to multiple sources.

28 Years Later, the hot package from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, has landed at Sony.

The Culver City-based studio has come out on top after a protracted bidding war to win the rights to the sequel package to the 2002 horror classic 28 Days Later.

Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland have reunited to write and direct the sequel, which also comes with a Part 2, to be written by Garland. Boyle would only direct the first project, with the sequel’s director to be determined at a later stage. Cillian Murphy, whose career was launched thanks to the original movie, is also returning, as an executive producer. The Oppenheimer star could also possibly act in the project, although details are being quarantined.

WME, which reps Boyle and Garland, took the package out to the Hollywood studios and streamers almost three weeks ago, generating immediate interest and intense wooing. In the end, the bidding came down to Warner Bros. and Sony. The idea of having the original creators return to lead a sequel or two had some comparing it to George Miller returning to Mad Max with 2015’s Fury Road.

The deal details are unavailable. Each movie would have a budget in the $60 million range but it’s unclear how goalposts or compensation may have changed during the high-stakes negotiations. A theatrical release was of great import to the filmmakers.

The pair will also produce, as would original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of onetime studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel. Bernie Bellew is also producing.

Sony had a unique weapon in the auction: a 30-year-plus relationship between studio head Tom Rothman and Boyle. Rothman founded Fox Searchlight in the 1990s and also ran Fox’s film division in the early 2000s, working with Boyle on eight movies, ranging from A Life Less Ordinary and The Beach (which was Boyle’s first collaboration with Garland) to the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours.

More than 20 years ago, Boyle and Garland collaborated on 28 Days Later, the film that reinvigorated the zombie genre, paving the way for titles such as The Walking Dead, World War Z and Zombieland, The Last of Us, to name a few. Murphy starred as a man who wakes up from a coma, alone in a hospital, only to discover the outside world had been overtaken by the undead 28 days earlier. The 2002 film grossed $82.7 million globally and spawned a sequel, 2007’s 28 Weeks later, though Boyle and Garland were only nominally involved as executive producers.

The duo have long talked in the press about doing a sequel. At one point, the idea was a film called 28 Months Later, but enough time has passed that 28 Years Later became the new idea.

In the intervening years, both Boyle and Garland’s stock has only risen in Hollywood. Boyle went on to direct best picture winner Slumdog Millionaire, while Garland became a director of features such as Ex Machina, considered a modern sci-fi classic, and the upcoming A24 film Civil War.

EXCLUSIVE: The new 28 Years Later trilogy from director Danny Boyle and Sony Pictures is gaining momentum, and some serious star power. Sources tell Deadline that Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes have boarded the first pic, a sequel to the original 28 Days Later.

Boyle is directing the first movie from a script by Alex Garland. Sony will release the film in theaters globally.

While plot details are vague, the original 28 Days Later in 2002 centered on a bicycle courier (played by Cillian Murphy) who wakes from a coma to discover the world had been overrun with zombies following the outbreak of a virus. The pic grossed more than $82 million worldwide and led to a 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, on which Boyle and Garland served solely as EPs.

Deadline recently broke the news that the studio has already tapped Candyman director Nia DaCosta to helm the second part of the trilogy, and that the plan is to shoot both films back to back. As for the three newest cast members, the studio is clearly showing it means business, adding star power instead of going the lesser-known-actor route like in previous installments.

Boyle and Garland are also producing 28 Years Later, as is original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice. Bernie Bellew is also producing. Murphy is also returning as an executive producer.

EXCLUSIVE: After landing the villain role in Ryan Coogler‘s next project, Jack O’Connell continues to fill out his dance card. Sources tell Deadline that he is set to join the cast of 28 Years Later, a sequel to the original 28 Days Later. Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes are also on board the pic, part of a planned trilogy.

Danny Boyle is directing the first movie from a script by Alex Garland. Sony will release the film in theaters globally.

While plot details are vague, the original 28 Days Later, directed by Boyle, written by Garland and released in 2002, centered on a bicycle courier (played by Cillian Murphy) who wakes from a coma to discover the world had been overrun with zombies following the outbreak of a virus. The pic grossed more than $82 million worldwide and led to the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, on which Boyle and Garland served solely as EPs. As for O’Connell, while his character description is unknown, sources say he will play more of a supporting character in first film and more of a lead role in second.