28 Years Later: The Bone Temple's Biggest Unanswered Questions After That Amazing Cliffhanger

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

One of the most compelling features of the "28 [insert time period here] Later" series is the way they all end with the promise of more to come. From Jim (Cillian Murphy) and company spotting their potential rescue to the Infected breaking out into Paris to Spike (Alfie Williams) being rescued by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) and his gang, each installment has left proceedings hanging in a fashion that promises intriguing developments to come. While these aren't cliffhangers in the traditional sense, they raise a bunch of questions each time out. 

This month's "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" is no exception, as it features the long-awaited return of Murphy to the series. In this epilogue-turned-cliffhanger, Jim is shown to have a teenage daughter, Sam, whom he home schools, and the two of them seem to have a playful, loving, healthy relationship. They also have a sense of duty, as both of them rush to the aid of Spike and Kelly (Erin Kellyman) when they approach the property while being chased by Infected.

Other than the impending meeting of those four characters, however, it's uncertain what a sequel to "The Bone Temple" will look like. All we know for now is that Jim will play a major part in it, Danny Boyle will return to direct (taking over from "The Bone Temple" director Nia DaCosta), and Alex Garland will again pen the script. We also know that there are a lot of unanswered questions following this latest installment; the cliffhanger alone raises a bunch! What follows are the biggest questions left to be addressed in the conclusion of the "28 Years Later" trilogy.

By far the biggest burning question regarding the cliffhanger of "The Bone Temple" involves the whereabouts of Jim's compatriots from "28 Days Later." At the climax of that film, Jim rescued Selena (Naomie Harris) and Hannah (Megan Burns) from a group of soldiers who intended to use them for sexual slavery. During the movie, Jim and Selena developed feelings for each other, and since Sam's daughter is mixed race it seems likely that Selena is her mother. If that's the case, is her mother still around? The coda of "The Bone Temple" shows us that there are multiple bedrooms in Jim's cottage, which could imply that one or both women are indeed still living with Jim.

Less pressing but just as big of a question is what happened to the three survivors immediately after "28 Days Later." If one is to take that film's hopeful ending with the events of "28 Weeks Later" as canon, it could be inferred that Jim, Selena, and Hannah were rescued by the NATO forces who briefly took control of Great Britain. However, that wouldn't explain why Jim and his daughter now remain in the modern day Unconditional Quarantine Zone that "28 Years Later" established. Jim's cottage looks similar to the one seen in Cumbria at the end of "Days," but is not quite identical. Is this a clue, or just a case of the original location no longer being available? Overall, it would seem that the simplest explanation would apply, which is that Jim and company were never rescued at all. Yet, given Jim's heroic tendencies and his distaste for the military, perhaps there's more lore afoot.

The return of Jim implies that the "28...Later" series is coming full circle narratively, and it would make sense for other major events to occur in a third "Years" film that would put a cap on the both the trilogy and the franchise as a whole. Feeding this assumption is the most major story twist within "The Bone Temple," which is that Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) manages to find a way to cure the Rage Virus after experimenting on his friend, the Alpha Infected he dubs Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). Although Kelson dies, it does appear that he kept extensive notes for himself, and presumably wrote down what this cure includes and how to use it. But who could use it, and how? Further complicating the cure is the stark shortage of the component drugs within the Quarantine Zone. 

With all this in mind, could these aforementioned big questions all be part of the same answer? Perhaps Spike and Kelly will lead Jim and company to Samson, who in turn might explain Kelson's cure, and the group could embark on a strategy to eradicate the Rage Virus from the world. If the "28 Years Later" films are any indication, we have a lot of surprises still in store for us, and things may not go at all like I'm speculating in this article. Yet that's part of the joy of this series, as each choice Boyle, DaCosta, and Garland have made has been clever and delightful. We have a while to wait for the concluding chapter, but the one thing I'm dead certain of is that it'll be worth it.

"28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" is in theaters everywhere.