Cillian Murphy Not Returning For 28 Years Later, May Be Back In Future Film

Cillian Murphy will not be returning in 28 Years Later after all, though we may not have seen the last of Jim yet. Andrew Macdonald, who is producing the new film, confirmed to Empire that Murphy, who played Jim in the first film 28 Weeks Later, will not be in the new entry that releases in June.

Macdonald told the outlet, “[On] this, we wanted him to be involved and he wanted to be involved. He is not in the first film, but I’m hoping there will be some Jim somewhere along the line… He’s involved at the moment as an executive producer, and I would hope we can work with him in some way in the future in the trilogy.”

There was some speculation that Murphy had returned as an Infected when the first trailer dropped in December and featured a very Jim-reminiscent character, but that has since been revealed to be art dealer Angus Neill.

As Macdonald noted, Murphy is an executive producer on the film which sees Danny Boyle back to direct and Alex Garland writing. It is set to release on June 20th with the next entry after, the Nia DaCosta-directed 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, set to release on January 16th, 2026.