Cillian Murphy is the talk of the town these days as the face of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which is due in theaters in a week and a half, and while the Irishman tends to be one of the quieter big actors working today, the consistent impact he brings to the screen makes the spotlight look more and more inevitable with every passing day.
And while Oppenheimer could very well be that tipping point, complete with Oscar buzz if the trailers are any indication, there’s one project that, if it ever came to fruition, would ensure Murphy’s domination of pop culture for a marked period of time, and that project is a sequel to 28 Days Later.
Murphy, of course, starred in the groundbreaking zombie film back in 2002, and while he wasn’t involved with the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, the Peaky Blinders star revealed in an interview with Collider that he’s all but ready to hop in for a legacy sequel, so long as Garland and Danny Boyle reprise their writing and directing duties, respectively.
I was talking to Danny Boyle recently, and I said, “Danny, we shot the movie at the end of 2000.” So I think we’re definitely approaching the 28 Years Later. But like I’ve always said, I’m up for it. I’d love to do it. If Alex [Garland] thinks there’s a script in it and Danny wants to do it, I’d love to do it.”
28 Years Later certainly has a nice ring to it, and given that 28 Days Later‘s cultural impact proved to be alive and well with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fact that we’re now living in a post-pandemic world would allow a potential legacy sequel to build on this impact with a wickedly sharp new lens. Here’s hoping Garland is cooking something up as we speak.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is due in theaters on July 21.