The Marvels Director Set To Return To Horror For The 28 Days Later Franchise, And I’m So Glad This Is Happening
The return of the zombie franchise is in motion!
When it comes to the best zombie movies we’ve ever seen, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later is up there! So when it was reported earlier this year that the director would be returning to his apocalyptic franchise for 28 Years Later, it was exciting news. Now the latest on the movie series' return is The Marvels director Nia DaCosta being lined up for 28 Years Later’s intended sequel. This is such great news!
So here’s what’s going down. Danny Boyle is already attached to helm 28 Years Later from a script set to be written by Alex Garland. Garland wrote the script for 2002’s 28 Days Later before going on to write and direct movies like Ex Machina and this Friday's release, Civil War. Now Nia DaCosta is apparently in talks to direct the movie already being developed to follow 28 Years Later, per The Hollywood Reporter. The next 28 Days Later movie getting its director in line (which is also expected to be written by Alex Garland) is not only a good sign that these movies have a vote of confidence from Sony Pictures, but is a great next step for DaCosta.
Nia DaCosta made an impressive debut in feature films with the 2019 indie drama Little Woods, starring Lily James and Tessa Thompson. She followed her debut with 2021’s rather excellent and rather chilling sequel to Candyman that was co-written and produced by Jordan Peele, and starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris. After that, DaCosta moved into the world of the MCU with The Marvels, which was actually quite well received despite its being a box office letdown.
DaCosta is a talented filmmaker already, but she’s especially great at creating tension. Little Woods and Candyman were great examples of this, and I’m so happy she’ll get to put her own stamp on the untitled 28 Years Later sequel. It’s exciting that Danny Boyle will already be back for the next movie in his franchise, but I also love that he’s passing it off to Nia DaCosta to continue telling the story!
You can catch up on what to remember about the zombie movies by checking out what happened at the end of 28 Days Later. There was also a 2007 sequel called 28 Weeks Later, but Boyle and Garland were only involved at a distance as executive producers. When it comes to 28 Years Later, apparently Cillian Murphy is involved as an executive producer himself, but it’s unclear at this point if he’ll return to star.
Ahead of DaCosta being part of this franchise, the director is currently filming her next movie, Hedda, which is a drama starring Tessa Thompson. Release dates for these 28 Days Later movies have yet to be determined, but stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for what upcoming horror movies are on the way.
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Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.