Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s post-apocalyptic zombie threequel 28 Years Later is now available for streaming on Netflix, providing moviegoers with a chance to hunt for the deep-cut references and Easter eggs they might have missed in the theaters. Starring Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes, 28 Years Later progresses the world devastated by the Rage Virus by leaps and bounds.

28 Years Later is obviously set nearly three decades after the Infected first sprinted through the streets of London, and picks up in a different part of Great Britain with a new cast of characters. However, the temporal and location shifts didn’t prevent Boyle and Garland from sneaking in a number of references to the beloved 2002 original, whether via narrative parallels or visual Easter eggs.

28 Years Later was applauded for not rehashing well-worn ground in the franchise, and for not falling into the common horror sequel trap of laying on the fan service one layer too thick. While the bones are present in all the right ways, 28 Years Later feels like a very different movie from the original. As a result, the Easter eggs and references feel much more earned than in other horror sequels.

10

Another Intense Opening Church Attack

28 Years Later opens with a brief sequence from when the Rage Virus first broke containment, and follows a child named Jimmy, who will go on to be the enigmatic cult leader played by Jack O’Connell in the movie’s divisive final scene. As the Infected ravage his house, he runs into the nearby church where his father, who appears to be the church’s reverend, awaits his end with a twisted, devout sense of joy.

It’s a clear parallel to Jim’s first encounter with the Infected in 28 Days Later, which occurs when he enters a church in the deserted carcass of London. He has a run-in with an Infected priest, smashing him with a bag of sodas before fleeing the other Infected in the church. Both

9

A Haunting Christian Hymn Resurfaces

While Jamie and Spike are across the Causeway hunting on the mainland, there is a brief montage of what life on Holy Island is like. In the background, a song plays that is intended to sound as though it’s sung by the children’s choir on the island. The song is “Abide With Me”, a Christian hymn written by Scottish cleric Henry Francis Lyte in 1847.

The song, which is essentially a prayer to God to remain with the singer through life and even into death, also plays in 28 Days Later, performed by a single child singer. It’s the somber hymn that plays as Jim discovers his parents’ bodies in their house.

8

Another Feast For Crows

One of the most intense moments of 28 Days Later is the infection of Frank (played by Brendan Gleeson), which occurs when a drop of Infected blood falls into his eye as he tries to shoo a particularly noisy crow away from its feast on a dead body. The drop spills from the beak of the crow as Frank disturbs it from its perch, all while it continues to protest.

In 28 Years Later, the Infected body that Jamie and Spike discover in a rural cottage is also plagued by a particularly large and boisterous crow. Their approach causes the crow to flee, and also reveals that the Infected individual is not yet dead.

7

A Missing Letter Provides A Parallel

One of the more obvious references for those who are intimately familiar with 28 Days Later can be seen on the gas station that Spike and Isla use as a potential sanctuary from the Infected chasing them through the forest. The ‘S’ is missing from the main sign on the Shell gas station, inadvertently labeling it as “hell”.

It’s a clear callback to the tablecloth and bedsheet sign that Jim, Selina, and Hannah make to hail a plane that sporadically flies across the island near where they’ve made their home after they escape Major West’s unit. In that instance, they are trying to spell the word “hello”, and in a brief flash we get an image of it unfinished, spelling out “hell” with the ‘O’ still to come.

6

Spike’s Apples Refer Back To A Long-Dead Character

Another recurring reference to Brendan Gleeson’s Frank from 28 Days Later in the 2025 threequel points back to a very specific moment during the original. As Frank, Jim, Selina, and Hannah raid an abandoned grocery store, Frank ogles a massive bushel of apples unspoiled by time and decay. He famously notes that they are “irradiated”, meaning they’ve undergone processing to reduce the microorganisms that cause rot and spoiling.

While the equipment for true irradiation is likely long-since defunct in the world of 28 Years Later, Spike notably loads his backpack with apples for his journey to the mainland with his mother, as they won’t spoil over time like meat or bread.

5

A Soldier’s Jape Mocks The Original Protagonist

The Swedish NATO soldier Erik, who manages to survive Samson and his family’s raid on his unit, saves Spike and Isla before settling in with them as a traveling companion with nowhere else to go. At one point as he talks with Spike, he mentions a friend who is a delivery driver back in Sweden, and how he’s “wasting his life” in what Erik considers a dead-end job.

It’s a subtle jab at Cillian Murphy’s Jim from 28 Days Later, who worked as a courier himself prior to the outbreak. In fact, he was in the middle of running a package on his bicycle when he was cut off by a vehicle and suffered the head injury that put him in a coma. Therefore, ironically, Jim’s life was saved by his delivery job, rather than wasted on it.

4

Animals As The Ultimate Omen

One of the most terrifying scenes in 28 Days Later is undoubtedly the tunnel scene, in which the four refugees’ car bursts a tire while they are in an underground tunnel trying to make their way out of London. They are soon chased by a horde of Infected, but before the four see their pursuers, they are startled by a swarm of rats, which are fleeing from the Infected themselves.

28 Years Later revisits that exact occurrence, with Isla encountering a small group of rats fleeing from the pregnant Infected woman as she gives birth in an abandoned train car. A more visually captivating use of animals as an omen for the Infected occurs as Jamie and Spike flee across the Causeway; they are beset upon by a massive colony of fleeing bats.

3

An Explosion Echoes Across Time And Space

Jim’s life is first saved in 28 Days Later by Selina and her fellow survivor Mark, who lead Jim towards a petrol station in downtown London, with a few Infected hot on his trail. When the Infected get close enough, they trigger an explosion by lighting up an intentional gas leak inside the petrol station.

In 28 Years Later, Spike and Isla find themselves trapped in a similar station, on the doorstep of being ripped apart by the Infected. Fortunately, Erik opens a door in the ceiling, and fires into the building, triggering a gas explosion similar to the one in 28 Days Later.

His shots lit the vaporized benzene that filled the building aflame, burning up all the Infected with fire while sparing Spike and Isla who ducked below the benzene vapor.

2

A Gloomy Rock Song Used To Great Effect

The song “East Hastings” by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor has a very noteworthy place in the 28 Days Later franchise: it’s the steadily-building dark rock song that crescendos as a confused Jim wanders around the completely deserted streets of London after waking up from a coma.

The song resurfaces in 28 Years Later as the backdrop to Spike’s narration of the letter to his father that he sends with baby Isla, which also explains that he will be staying on foot, exploring the mainland on his own. The song is used at the outset of the journey for both Jim and Spike, whose narrative has clearly just begun, drawing a powerful parallel between the two protagonists.

1

The Best Kind Of Death

The most beautiful deep-cut reference in 28 Years Later comes as Spike prepares to say goodbye to his mother, after they both learn that she has uncurable cancer and will die soon. The compassionate Dr. Kelson consoles both of them by noting that:

There are many kinds of death, and some are better than others. The best are peaceful, where we leave each other in love.

It’s a reference to the beautiful yet heartbreaking note that Jim’s parents left for him as they took their own lives. On the back of a picture of Jim as a baby, they wrote:

With endless love, we left you sleeping. Now we’re sleeping with you. Don’t wake up. X

They died together peacefully, and laying together thinking of their son. Selina mentions to Jim that he should be grateful that they died in that fashion, and Dr. Kelson drives that point home to Spike in 28 Years Later. His mother dies not at the hands of the Infected, or in pain from the cancer eating away at her, but in peace and comfort with a heart full of love for her son.

Release Date

June 20, 2025

Runtime

126 minutes

Director

Danny Boyle