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EXCLUSIVE: While Danny Boyle is set to return to direct 28 Years Later, the first film in a new trilogy based on the iconic horror films he helped launch, Sony Pictures is already lining up the helmer for the second installment. While a deal hasn’t closed, sources tell Deadline that Nia DaCosta is in talks to direct, with Boyle, original writer Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice producing along with Bernie Bellew. 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy will exec produce.

While exact dates are unknown, sources say the plan is for Boyle to direct the first film later this year, with the second film shooting immediately after, which is why Sony is moving fast to lock in that second director. This way, the directors can get on the same page about where they see the story going while also bringing their own unique visions for each film. Garland will pen each installment.

While plot details on this new trilogy are vague, the original 28 Days Later centered on Murphy’s bicycle courier, who woke up from a coma to discover the world had been overrun with zombies following the outbreak of a virus. Pic grossed over $82 million worldwide and led to a 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, on which Boyle and Garland served solely as EPs.

As for DaCosta, the rising star in the director ranks is the fit the franchise is seeking given how impactful her directing style has been, especially with her horror thrillers like Candyman.

Up next, DaCosta wrote, directed and produced the MGM Orion Pictures and Plan B film Hedda, a visceral reimagination of the famed Henrik Ibsen stage play Hedda Gabler, starring Tessa Thompson in the title role. Previously, she directed and co-wrote The Marvels starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani, and Candyman, a contemporary spiritual sequel to the 1992 cult horror classic, for Universal and Monkeypaw Productions. The film received rave reviews and opened at No. 1 at the box office, making DaCosta the first Black female director to open at the top of U.S. charts.

DaCosta made her feature debut with the Little Woods, which she wrote and directed.

DaCosta is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360, Casarotto Ramsay and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang.

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The second film in the “28 Years Later” trilogy, “The Bone Temple,” has landed a Jan. 16, 2026 domestic release date from Columbia Pictures.

The project’s MLK weekend release comes just six months after the first trilogy entry “28 Years Later,” which is slated for June 20. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes star in that film, which shot back-to-back with “The Bone Temple.”

“It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected,” the “28 Years Later” official synopsis reads. “One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.” Plot details for the imminent sequel remain under wraps.

“The Bone Temple” will be directed by Nia DaCosta from a screenplay by Alex Garland. Producers are Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice and Bernard Bellew. Cillian Murphy is executive producing.

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