28 Years Later Features A Brilliant Easter Egg Only UK Fans Will Notice

It's hell on Earth in "28 Years Later." Well, for the unfortunate folks in the United Kingdom, that is. Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic threequel (which starts a brand new trilogy of its own) drives the message home that the British Isles are all alone, having lost the battle to the rage virus. The world has carried on without them, giving us a brutal and bleak look at an alternate timeline where pivotal real-life events in British history never happened. 

This brings some key details that resonate more deeply with U.K. audiences than with the rest of the world. One of the most significant plot points comes at the very end of the film with the introduction of Jack O'Connell's controversial villain, Sir Jimmy Crystal, who is poised to cause trouble in upcoming sequel "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple."

Another significant detail comes in the form of a stunning tree that appears in multiple wide shots during Spike's dreamy trip to the mainland. The striking monument in question is the 150-year-old Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland, England, which gained big-screen fame after being used as a location in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." Unfortunately, the tree was cut down in an act of vandalism back in 2023 (the perpetrators were charged with criminal damage). While sightings of the tree might not mean much to some, it's another core component of UK history that demonstrates just how far the "28 Years Later" timeline has deviated from our own.

In an interview with Sky News, Boyle explained that the Sycamore Gap tree "had already been destroyed by the time we came to film" and had to be digitally recreated for the shots in "28 Years Later." He hoped to create "a wonderful tribute" to the iconic landmark by including it in the film. "We recreated it for the same reasons that you see the Queen in this," Boyle explained. "All the things that have happened to us in the last 28 years have not happened."

The sight of a now-destroyed landmark, along with Jimmy Crystal modeling himself on Jimmy Savile (whose crimes were never exposed in this timeline), is crucial to the alternate history worldbuilding in "28 Years Later." Speaking to Variety about these key moments, Garland said, "Very simply, Danny and I grew up in an era where everything was about looking forward in some respects, and currently, for the last 10 or 15 years, we're in an era that is very much about looking back." This explains the element of nostalgia within the nightmare of "28 Years Later" that makes it a jarring viewing at times. "What the film is preoccupied with on some level is the way when we look back, there is amnesia, and there is cherry picking," explains Garland. "Also, there are things that are misremembered."

With Spike now have been taken under the wing of Jimmy's gang of Jimmys, there's no telling where his story will go and how far into the post-apocalyptic UK "The Bone Temple" will venture. It's a world that's not unlike our own, albeit a little angrier. 

"28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" is set to release on January 16, 2026.