28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Finally Delivers The Moment Fans Have Been Waiting For

This article contains spoilers for "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple."

2002's "28 Days Later" was a revolutionary horror film in more ways than one. It reignited the zombie subgenre (despite not technically being a zombie film, but let's be real), reintroducing many elements and tropes to horror that had not been seen for a good long while at the time of its release. It also subverted the nihilism of the zombie/post-apocalypse subgenre. Where films like "Night of the Living Dead," "The Beyond," "The Return of the Living Dead" and other zombie movies revel in conclusions where the protagonists don't survive, "28 Days Later" allowed its heroic trio of Jim (Cillian Murphy), Selena (Naomie Harris), and Hannah (Megan Burns) to make it through the movie. What's more, the ending implies that the three have potentially found themselves rescued, an inference that's only encouraged by composer John Murphy's jaunty, upbeat "End Credits" jam track.

Upon the release of 2025's "28 Years Later," which was also directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland as "28 Days Later" had been, fans were curious and eager to know the whereabouts of Jim, Selena, and Hannah. That film provided no answers or even hints, as Boyle and Garland were more focused on a new set of characters, along with the larger concept of a quarantined United Kingdom still living with the Rage virus. Now, at the conclusion of Nia DaCosta's "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" (again written by Garland), we finally see the return of Jim. It turns out he's begun a family of his own, and his reintroduction is not only tightly focused on the themes and tropes of this "Years" trilogy, but it also provides some hints and raises some questions about what's to come.

In the last scene of "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," we find Jim alive and well. Curiously, he still resides within the United Kingdom, and it's not clear whether this is a deliberate choice or circumstance. The latter implies that Jim, Selena, and Hannah were actually not rescued at the end of "28 Days Later." We see no sign of those women, either, though it's possible one or both of them could still be around, as Jim's house seems big enough for four. In any case, he's the father of a young daughter, Sam, who may or may not be Selena's daughter, too.

We're shown how Jim exists in opposition to Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) from "28 Years Later," as Jim is teaching Sam a more sober, warts-and-all version of English military history than Jamie's skewed machismo-heavy interpretation. This doesn't mean that Jim and Sam are pacifists, though, as the approach of a nearby infected chasing Spike (Alfie Williams) and Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman) spurs father and daughter to action. Even their brief debate about whether to help out demonstrates that while Jim is understandably cautious, his heart is still in a heroic place, as it was at the end of "28 Days Later."

Of course, there's a good deal of mystery surrounding what's happened to Jim during the last 28 years, where his friends are, and whether he's still looking to escape the UK or has resigned himself to living within it. What is clear from this cliffhanger scene is that he continues to be a force for positive change. With this fact, combined with the reawakening of Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), we can infer that a fairly massive revolution is on the horizon for the world of "28 Years Later."